Alien Romance: Hunter: Space Commander's Fated Mate (Space Beasts Book 3) (6 page)

“Believe me,” Juliet sighed, spreading her legs apart on the ground for a fighter’s stance. Her mind searched through the memories of Zalgar fighting beasts, and especially when he fought the Dwynlin. She had to fight. No amount of running was going to save her now. “I’m already regretting it.”

She decided against fighting like Zalgar, not having his size and strength. Instead, Juliet worked mostly on dodging, playing the defensive. She aimed to tire Jahan out or try to find some sort of pattern where it gave her an easy way to land a hit or stab. He lunged forward,

Juliet just dodging enough that she could only feel the tip of the blade graze her. She then backed away before he could swing it back for another slice. It went on like this several times, Jahan growing more and more frustrated as Juliet refused to hit him but managed to get away with only one cut, a shallow one at that.

“No wonder,” he muttered, trying to egg her on, “You’re a coward just like him. You’d do well as his mate.” Jahan smirked. “I haven’t seen Samara, though. Perhaps she was successful in seducing Zalgar.”

He found just what he needed to make Juliet take the offensive. Upset and thinking that she would have surprise on her side, the blonde moved forward, trying to slash directly for Jahan’s chest. Her opponent expected it, though, and kicked her legs, knocking her to the ground.

Juliet gasped and struggled to get up, but Jahan was on top of her pulling and ripping at her clothes and her hair. “See? Weak,” he growled, just as he started to get her shorts undone, “Don’t worry, earthling. This will be your best fuck yet.”

Juliet continued to struggle. She could feel hot tears rolling down her face and hated the fact that she was letting him see her cry. “Stop! Get off of me!” she screamed. But what was the point of screaming? Who would save her?

It was a moment of doubt that Juliet would regret. Jahan was undoing his own pants, finding it difficult to hold her still while he took his cock out, when she got colder. Realizing it was the lack of someone else’s body on top of hers, Juliet sat up quickly, backing away and grabbing her blade from where it’d fallen on the grass.

She kept backing up until she felt her back hit a tree, knife raised in the air firmly. Juliet couldn’t see who it was, but she could hear a struggle, a bunch of grunting and rustling in the grass, and the clanging of metal against metal.

She let out a sob when it grew quiet. Juliet had no idea who it was that had fought off Jahan, whether it was a beast or even a Dwynlin, or even Zalgar. Out of the four possibilities on the winner, there was only one that would actually save her, and even that was iffy, depending on if Samara really got to him.

“Juliet?”

Juliet should have let out a sigh of relief. She knew the voice instantly.
Zalgar
. He’d found her somehow.
He knows these woods
, she thought,
And he’s the best hunter I know. Of course he’d find me
. But what were his intentions? She still wasn’t sure.

Zalgar followed the sounds of her heavy breathing and crying. Juliet’s blue eyes widened when he came into sight. Upon seeing her blade still raised, he crouched to eye-level with her, hands raised in surrender. It was like he was approaching a scared animal, and Juliet knew that there were many similarities in that comparison. “Juliet… Put the knife down.”

“Where is he?” she asked, her tone harsher than either of them were used to, “And her? Where are your friends?”

He frowned. “They’re not going to bother us anymore. I took care of them.”

Juliet blinked back more tears. She felt pathetic. “I… I tried to fight him off,” she said, “I couldn’t do it. Did you kill him?”

Zalgar hesitated. “Yes. I killed him.”

“And Samara?”

“I talked to her. She wasn’t violent. Jahan has always been a rival more than my friend. He wanted to take what was mine, my job and…” Zalgar sighed. “You. It’s why he showed up early. She tried to stop him, but it didn’t work obviously.”

Juliet wiped with her free hand at her tears, erasing the evidence. “What, so she’s just going to let us go?”

He shook his head. “No, she’s giving us three days. If I agree to go through with our engagement when you leave.”

She hadn’t expected it to hit her as hard as it did, but it did. Juliet laughed humourlessly. “What, and you agreed? Do you even like her?”

“Does it matter?” Zalgar asked, “I bought us
time
, Juliet. I bought you safety. I can deal with Samara on my own. You’ll be gone anyways.” He sounded so logical about it all, almost cold. Juliet wondered why she felt any different.

He was right. She couldn’t stay here. She was leaving, going back home. Somehow, during their love-making and fucking, she’d forgotten the part where that meant having to say goodbye to the man that kept saving her over and over again, who had patience and made her laugh and smile.

Fresh tears came to her eyes, and this time, she couldn’t hold them back. Juliet had only ever cried in front of two people in her entire life, always seeming so emotionless to people back home. And yet here she was. Zalgar seemed calm through it all, his hand slowly reaching for her knife. “Juliet… Please,” he instructed, “Put down the knife.”

She did as she was told. Zalgar didn’t take no for an answer, and he could tell her to do anything at this point. Jahan was right. She was weak, and she had no idea what she was doing, where she was going, or what kind of mess she was really in. The knife fell to the ground, and in that moment, Zalgar scooped her up into his arms, holding her against him tightly.

Juliet cried into his shoulder, body wracked and shaking with the sobs that she now let go freely. She didn’t know what she was crying over anymore, a combination of her own self-pity, Jahan’s attack, and the fact that she was going to have to say goodbye to Zalgar soon.

Chapter Seven

Zalgar hadn’t been joking when he said the trip to the city was long. Juliet wasn’t too far off with following the stream, though they needed to be on the other side of it. The smooth, orange rocks were slippery on her bare feet, but Juliet managed. Zalgar was patient with her the entire time, cursing himself for not packing the night before so that they would have been ready, even with Jahan’s ambush and Samara’s visit.

They didn’t talk about Jahan or Samara again. The marriage proposal could send Juliet into an emotional fit, just as talking about Jahan and what he had done, and almost done to her, could send Zalgar into his own emotional fit. Even touching one another, acknowledging what they had done the night before, seemed awkward. But it was Zalgar that finally breached it.

“How are your feet?” he asked, concerned.

Juliet looked down at them, minding the small pebbles and sticks as they made their way through the forest. They hurt, and she feared that the cuts might get infected, what with all the dirt getting into them. More than once, she’d wondered if she would even be able to fight off that kind of infection, it being from extraterrestrial bacteria.

“I’m fine,” she lied, simply because there was nothing that they could do about the pain that she was in, nor did they have any bandages. All they had for medicine was the ointment for her burns, which were only just starting to irritate her. “How much longer do we have?”

“Too long for you to be lying about your wounds.”

She silently cursed him.
How the hell can he tell
? “Zalgar-”

He interrupted her with a kiss to her lips. Juliet was irritated momentarily at the fact that he was trying to shut up her poor excuses, but quickly melted into him. She realized soon enough that he was distracting her, picking her up and taking the pressure of her weight off of her feet.

When she felt him back her into a tree, Juliet turned her head away, sighing as he kissed a trail down the curve of her neck and focusing where he’d left a hickey. “You can’t carry me the whole way,” she breathed.

“You doubt my strength,” Zalgar replied, nibbling her chin lightly. His pelvis began to rock into hers rhythmically.

“Stop,” Juliet said, but her body and tone were saying anything but, “We have to hurry…”

“I can make it quick.”

She shook her head, even as he dipped his head and she pushed her chest up into his face. He lifted a hand to pull down on her neckline, kissing down her collarbone before taking a nipple in his mouth. “This is too confusing,” she whimpered, “I’m leaving tonight. And you’re getting married.”

Zalgar stopped, taking his mouth of her with a “pop.” He frowned in confusion. “That’s only more of a reason-”

“I just want to get home, Zalgar,” Juliet begged. She wanted more than that .She wanted him to fuck her. She even wanted him to make slow, sweet love to her. But Juliet needed to get out, and she was afraid that the more attached she got to Zalgar, the more she thought about him moving on without her… The more she wanted to risk her chances here, with him.

He pursed his lips slightly before nodding. “I see,” he replied, “I’ve just been… Never mind. I don’t know what came over me.” Zalgar didn’t set her down, though. He kept Juliet in his arms and continued walking towards the city.

“What are you doing?” she demanded.

“You’re moving too slow,” he said, and Juliet could hear in his detached, business-like tone that she’d hurt his feelings, “If you want to get home so bad, we’ll move faster like this.” Still, she could feel his fingers digging into her flesh, as if drawing power from their shared touch.

It went on like this for longer than she expected. After an hour, Zalgar let her down, and Juliet agreed that her feet felt fine enough to continue on. It grew even quieter between them, but then she reached for his hand as it started to grow dark.

They stayed by the river, finding that there was more light there with the reflection of Rolq’thos’ moon on the water and in the sky. It was a short break that they were taking, hidden by the trees around them and the tall reeds in the water. Juliet tore off a chunk of her jerky, chewing thoughtfully.

“Jahan said that you left the military because of some orders that you didn’t agree with,” she said suddenly.

She looked over at Zalgar, who stared off at the reflection on the water. “Juliet-”

“Just tell me if it’s true,” she said, “You don’t have to say what the orders were. I’m not going to try to get to know you anymore that I already do. What’s the point now, right?” She didn’t mean to sound surly about the last part, but it was something Juliet still had an issue with, even with her planning on saying goodbye shortly. Especially after he saw her cry, Zalgar saw Juliet for who she really was, more than anyone else.

Zalgar took a bite of his own food. Juliet thought for a moment that he was ignoring her, trying to avoid the conversation entirely by not participating in it at all. “They wanted me to kill my father,” he said suddenly.

Juliet’s brow furrowed, and she paused her eating in shock. It wasn’t anything she’d been expecting. “What?”

“He was a supporter of aiding humans, and other species. He wanted Rolq’thos to reveal itself,” Zalgar explained, “And he made the poor decision of letting others hear his opinion. As a commander, I had a reputation to keep and expectations against those that opposed our political leaders.”

The blonde shook her head. “No… Please… Please say you didn’t…”

He turned his head upwards, shifting his gaze from the reflection of the moon to the moon itself. “No, I didn’t. I told my father to run, and I ran too. He was supposed to meet me, but he never did. I waited, even started building that cave.” Zalgar sighed wistfully.

“I thought we could just live off the grid for a while, let the army see how much they needed me, and I would set out my own terms and conditions, one that ensured his safety.”

Juliet remembered the furniture in the cave.
There was only one set of everything. By the time the cave was finished, his dad was already gone
, she thought. “Do you know what happened to him?”

Zalgar nodded slowly. “They killed him, Jahan and Samara. Jahan always secretly hated me, was jealous, and she was angry with me for leaving her for my family. She told me today that she thought it was better that she was there for his death. She said she made it quick, as painless as it could be.”

“What, and now you’re going to marry her?” Juliet asked, dumbstruck, “You can’t be with her, Zalgar. She’s… She’s a monster. She killed your dad, for Christ’s sake!”

For the first time since they started talking about his life in the city, Zalgar shifted his gaze to her, looking very irritated. “I know that!” he snapped, “I don’t actually plan on marrying Samara, and she’s an idiot for thinking that I’ll go through with it. I agreed to get us a couple more days of safety, but as soon as you’re gone, I’m going back into hiding. And this time, they won’t find me.”

There was relief in the fact that he wasn’t going to be with the horror that Samara was, but the idea of him being alone again… That was an alternative that also made Juliet sad. She knew that at first he was terrible with having a “roommate” of sorts, but she’d been able to see through it, in the end. He needed someone to keep him sane, human in the sense that he had compassion for others.

Juliet frowned, finding the whole situation terrible. “I shouldn’t have taken that stupid trip,” she muttered, “If I hadn’t been on that shuttle, I wouldn’t have crashed, and you never would have had to deal with this.”

Zalgar shook his head, and she was surprised to see him smiling, though it was sad. “You were going to find your way here somehow.”

“What makes you say that?” Juliet asked.

“Just… Trust me. We were going to meet one way or another, Juliet Moore.”

She didn’t know what he meant, if he was just a strong believer in fate. Juliet decided not to ask, having already done enough interrogating for the meal. She leaned forward, kissing Zalgar on his cheek.

She didn’t do it because she was aroused by him, though that was true and always had been. Juliet kept kissing along his cheek, grazing over his lips, simply because she wanted to comfort him, because he was her friend, and because he had finally done what she always wanted. He had exposed himself, finally opened up.

In a flash, he had her pinned to the ground. Juliet gasped in surprise, but her hands found their way into his hair. “Zalgar…”

“Don’t tell me to stop,” he whispered against her skin, kissing down the front of her throat, all the way down to her sternum.

She pushed her breasts up, wanting more. Juliet shouldn’t want more, though. She should want to just go home, go back to her old life, and find some other nerdy, college student to fill up her love life, a guy that had never killed a person, or even an animal, before. That was what she was used to. That was what made sense to her. Zalgar… He was something she hadn’t ever expected, and he was something that she couldn’t have. “I don’t want you to stop… But we’re better off if we do.”

“I want you tonight,” he insisted. And Juliet knew he would get what he wanted, but not until she gave in. Zalgar had a hard time with the word “no,” an answer she very rarely gave him. “I held off for so long.”

Juliet smirked. “A month? That seems like a decent amount of time. I’ve held out for longer.”

When Zalgar looked at her, she could sense a small amount of his desperation. It was the same as the night before, almost stronger. “What does your planet say of destiny?” he asked, “About two people destined to meet?” 

Her brow furrowed in thought. “Like soul mates? Uh… It’s… Well, it’s something we all hope for, but a lot of people dismiss it. Most people dismiss it, myself included.” Juliet had never been the romantic type, something that was an issue with her previous relationships, but that was something she didn’t seem to worry about Zalgar. She could be honest with him and how she felt without feeling judged. In fact, the more he got to know her, the more proud he seemed of her.

“On Rolq’thos, it’s the same,” he said, “But it’s also different. We all look for it. It’s something we all hope for. But not everyone gets it in this lifetime.” Zalgar paused, then pressed a long kiss against her lips. “When we find that person, we just know. Instantly.”

Juliet felt butterflies beginning to fly around in her stomach. Where was he going with this? “How?” she struggled to ask, clearing her throat, “How do you know?”

He smiled softly, trailing a finger up her arm and to her shoulder. “Your smell,” Zalgar said, “That was how I first found you. It was like I was a starving man coming across the scent of a hot meal. I couldn’t help but follow, and then I found the crash, and you…” Juliet swallowed a lump in her throat. If he hadn’t…
Smelled
her… She would have died at the hands of that Dwynlin. “Once I met you, I didn’t want to stop touching you. I still don’t.”

Her head started to feel light as Juliet became hyper-aware of just how much they were touching in that moment, of how much they had touched since she first met him. What are you saying, Zalgar?” she asked, her tone breathy.

“I’m saying we were destined to find one another, in one lifetime or another, Juliet,” he replied, “And it may be some lifetimes before we find each other again. So let’s just have tonight, hm?”

Juliet found herself nodding. God, she could imagine some guy at a bar using that same line, but in that moment, she believed him. Zalgar never once lied to her, and there was something…

Something in the fact that she hadn’t been able to resist touching him either, had taken over her heart and mind so quickly. And he’d known it, even hinted at it from the beginning. He knew their connection and thought her resistance was nothing short of hilarious.

Zalgar was gentler than the day before, and Juliet wondered if it was because this was a goodbye until the next time they saw each other, in some other lifetime. She hoped that it would be easier, that they would get more time together, in the next one. Lifting her hips, she helped him discard her shorts. His hand remained between her legs, fingers finding her clit quickly.