Alien Savior: A Sci-Fi Alien Invasion Paranormal Romance (6 page)

Only the slightest sound of protest escaped the young woman as he removed the garment, sliding it up over her head to drop it errantly to the floor. She was bare beneath, and for the first time, he looked upon the woman he’d chosen with no barriers between them.

She was thin – her waist tiny in comparison to the ample swell of her hips and breasts. Her stomach was flat, her legs long and sinuous, and between rested a thatch of blonde curls that matched the color of the waves atop her head. Her breasts were topped with peach colored peaks – something unique to her race, but oddly arousing; and as she looked up at him, her cheeks flushing a deep red as she hurried to cover herself, he found himself wishing there was more time before they left – if not to discern her personality, then at least to become familiar with the body that now belonged to him. When his thumb brushed over the plumpness of her lips, she shivered beneath his touch, her eyes sliding closed. “Please…” The word escaped her on a breathy whisper.

He had no idea what she was begging him for, escape, or quick penetration, but unfortunately, he hadn’t the time to address either. He took a step back from her, tearing his gaze from her slender form as he pressed a button on the console to his left to call back the medical officers. “You must prepare for cold sleep.” His tone was firm, even if he was battling an almost irrepressible desire to make her his in that very moment. “Will you cooperate?”

At that moment, the two medical personnel re-entered, one male and one female, this time eying their quarry with decidedly more caution. With a small, affronted sound, Danielle snatched up her gown to cover herself. He might have told her that she could take nothing with her into the cold sleep capsule, but she would discover that fact soon enough. She looked from him to the doctors before giving a minute nod.

In an instant, they were at her side, snatching her gown from her to begin examining her. She would be given a drug that would alter her chemical and genetic makeup slowly, over the next moon cycle, so that by the time they arrived in Garinia, she would be able to withstand both the increased gravity and hotter temperatures. And when they arrived, she would be assessed for how easily she could bear his heir.

Then, they would be wed.

Though the date was one full moon in the future, the time would pass quickly, and he could only hope that by the time the event occurred, she was prepared for what would be expected of her. He would expect no less.

Kael stood by, watching with no small amount of amusement as the medical officers fitted her with the cold sleep nodules before administering the injections that would work on her DNA while she slept. She seemed incredibly uncomfortable with her own nakedness, though he could see nothing she might be ashamed of.

Indeed, it was difficult for him to look away from her nude form. She would need to gain weight if she were to withstand his brand of loving, and he would see that it was seen to the moment he returned home. When they had finished with her, the doctors fitted him with the same apparatus they had his bride to be before folding the cold sleep modules down from the ceiling above.

When Danielle gazed upon the machine, fear glowed in her eyes. Taking her wrist, Kael led her firmly over to the cold sleep capsule, turning her head gently so she met his gaze. “All will be well. You will sleep without dreams, and when you wake, everything will be different.” With that, he handed her off once more to the doctors, who somehow managed to ease her trembling form into the capsule. Then, within minutes, she was asleep, all her fears and insecurities erased from her mind by the drug coursing through her system.

For a brief moment before he entered his own chamber, Kael stared through the glass at her. Such a small, weak little thing. How would she ever rise to rule an empire as vast as Garinia? She would require no small amount of grooming – and she would have to learn to trust him. At the very least, to obey him.

Her people would look to her for guidance, and she would have to deliver – or else risk being crushed beneath the weight of the world to which she’d been spirited away.

**

It was a struggle.

Trying to swim out of the peaceful darkness in which she’d been entombed. Surprisingly, Danielle felt not the slightest iota of panic or unease. She drifted, slowly, back into consciousness, as if stepping from the depths of a chasm in which time and space had no meaning.

She felt stiff.

When she blinked, light pierced her lids, making her wince as she tried to adjust. It felt like an eternity since she’d opened her eyes.

And then, it hit her.

It had been an eternity.

Two whole years. As her vision slowly swam into focus, she realized that she was still inside the cold sleep capsule in which she’d spent the past two years of her life unconscious. Her first instinct was to panic. She had never been a fan of closed spaces – but before the urge could overtake her, she was entranced by the sight just beyond the glass panel.

Prince Kael Al’Hazzar. Her…intended? She was still trying to wrap her head around what he’d told her. She was supposed to be providing him with children? Something about preserving the future of humanity by creating some kind of hybrid with his own race…and she was supposed to marry him. Would that make her queen? Some sort of weird concubine? She had no idea how the customs of this society worked – he’d explained desperately little to her before she’d been put to sleep.

All she knew was that her fate was now somehow intertwined with a man who frightened her as much as he aroused her.

Absolutely transfixed, she stared through the window of the capsule at the naked man before her. He was immense – a tall column of well-muscled flesh from pale, broad shoulders to slim waist, each abdominal muscle chiseled precisely into his frame. When it came to anatomy, there were very little differences between their races – the man had a very familiar sexual organ, even if the size was enough to make her light-headed.

His fingers and toes were a bit longer than the average human, but apart from that, he was one of the most beautiful things she’d ever seen in her entire life. When he turned away from her to reveal the line of his spine and his tight, decadent behind, she took in the pronounced nodules of his spine before they were covered by the long braid of deep blue hair that dropped below his waist.

She supposed it could have been worse. At least the man wasn’t hideous; but when she came to terms with her current position, she would have to admit that his looks were the least of her concerns at this point. He was a prince – which meant that if they married, she would be a princess.

She had no idea how to be a princess…the very thought was laughable, and she knew that if Jordan still lived, he would be laughing hardest of them all. He knew how clumsy, ungainly and blunt she could be. If there were anyone less suited to be the wife of a prince, she hadn’t met them.

She watched the medical personnel check the prince’s magnificent body over before they moved away. He then reached for his black body suit, which was provided to him on a tray by one of the five impeccably dressed attendants in the room. As the prince fastened the front of the garment, every occupant of the chamber immediately stepped away from him, inclining their heads deeply in respect. For a moment, Danielle thought they were going to kowtow to him – at least until
she
appeared.

Walking through the door with posture that would have brought Victorian tears of joy was one of the most gorgeous women Danielle had ever seen. Of course, the prince’s people as a race didn’t really seem to have physical flaws – but this was the first time she had seen one of their women up close, and she was without compare.

Perhaps a foot shorter than the prince himself, her hair was the same shade of cobalt blue, piled atop her head in an intricate updo of curls and sleek whorls set with gold combs. The black and gold gown she wore contrasted sharply with her pale skin and fit her slender form, adhering to her every curve and trailing in an expansive train behind her. Her face was painted with a series of blue cosmetics that enhanced her eyes and the full shape of her mouth; eyes, Danielle noticed, that changed color just as often as the prince’s.

She certainly made Danielle, still naked inside her tube, feel completely second rate. And if that wasn’t discomfort enough, the moment the newcomer laid eyes on the prince, she strode towards him to embrace him warmly. Though Danielle hardly knew the man, it was enough to make her stomach clench in envy.

Was she supposed to compete with that? Impossible? She was now in a foreign place, without a single scrap of knowledge on how to conduct herself or how to act. As ready as she’d been to leave theEearth, she certainly hadn’t been ready to be chosen as wife to a prince. Now, it seemed as if she was
second
wife, which in and of itself was the most intimidating idea in the entire cosmos.

While she was still caught up in her whirling thoughts, the lid on her capsule released, along with the restraints keeping her inside. With nothing holding her upright, Danielle fell from the confines of the tube in an ungainly heap of limbs, naked as the day she was born.

She could feel everyone’s eyes on her and felt herself turning crimson. This could not be happening to her. At that moment, Danielle would gladly have re-entered cold sleep for an eternity. What she expected was for every single person present to burst into laughter. Instead, four doctors immediately rushed to her side to help her to her feet. She found that her legs were unable to support themselves, and had to let them hold her aloft. They worked with unparalleled speed and efficiency, injecting something into the cold sleep nodules that felt like liquid ice entering her limbs even as it pumped energy into them. Within moments, each nodule had been removed and she was standing of her own accord –and staring right at the couple she’d been observing from within her capsule.

Danielle didn’t think she’d ever been so embarrassed in her entire life. She used one hand to cover her breasts and the other her exposed womanhood. To her further humiliation, the prince smirked at her discomfort, his eyes travelling over her from head to toe.

It was the final straw. Danielle had gone along with everything that she’d been told since the moment she’d been taken from her apartment. She’d even had hope that leaving behind everything she had lost might be a positive move for her – but for her to be where she was, completely ignorant of everything around her, with the man who was supposed to be her
husband
laughing at her misfortune – she couldn’t let it stand.

“It’s not funny!” She snapped, her eyes narrowing in ire. If she’d have been smart, the shocked gasp from the attendants in the room would have kept her from continuing, but Danielle paid them no mind. “This is monstrous! For the love of God, give me some clothes! I won’t be paraded around you people like some sort of side show freak!”

As her words echoed around the chamber, the doctors and servants stared at her in abject horror. Prince Kael’s expression had changed from one of amusement to distinct displeasure, and in an instant, he moved to take a step forward and Danielle’s heart leapt into her throat. Before he could get very far, however, the woman beside him reached out to take his wrist lightly, drawing his attention. She spoke to him in an unrecognizable language, her voice like water cascading gently over a fall, and with a low epithet, the prince glanced at Danielle before turning on his heel to stride from the room in a huff. All his attendants hurried after him, leaving Danielle alone with the woman and the remaining doctors.

In a smooth motion, the regal creature reached behind herself to unhook the long cape she wore on her shoulders. As she raised the fabric, it glittered in the fluorescent light of the chamber. Moving forward, she draped the lightweight material over Danielle’s shoulder, affectively hiding her nude form from view. A faint, floral scent washed over the young woman and all at once, she was a mere foot from her rival, her eyes locked with a pair that flashed from gold to mossy green. “There, there. That’s better, now, isn’t it?”

All Danielle could do was stare at her. The mysterious woman, however, seemed merely to take this in stride. A small, warm smile spread across her face. “My apologies. I know this must seem very strange to you. My brother can be a bit…callous when it comes to teaching our customs.”

Brother. The Prince was her brother. Danielle felt the knot in her stomach slowly ease. So she wasn’t second wife after all –at least, not that she knew of. “My name is Kaia Xevan Al’Hazzar…and I believe we will soon be sisters.” She wrapped a slender arm around Danielle’s shoulder, her smile never wavering. “I’m sure you have many questions. Please come with me.” Gesturing towards the doorway, Princess Kaia nudged her forward gently.

Hesitating only slightly, Danielle followed her out of the room and into the ship’s corridor. Though the vessel had been alive with activity before they’d left Earth, now the place was completely deserted. It appeared that she was the last one to leave. Clutching the princess’ cloak about herself tightly, the young woman allowed herself to be led down long hallways, taking innumerable twists and turns, until finally, the glow of natural light shone from an archway ahead.

Danielle stepped into a blast of warm air. When she turned from the ship in which she had spent the last two years of her life sleeping, she got her first glimpse at her new home.

The sky was an immense smear of purple, with no less than three suns blazing down upon the surface of the planet below. Against the deep backdrop of the incredible sky lie a city that stretched as far as they eye could see – gleaming, white buildings that looked to be carved of marble for miles and miles. Some were barely a few stories high while others looked as if they expanded far into the atmosphere.