Alien Warrior's Mate: Sci-fi Alien Military Romance (Brion Brides Book 1) (9 page)

He caught the next drop pod to the surface of Exolar. The emptiness of the bay and the looks he drew as the commander's chosen still aboard the
Triumphant
was punishment enough. The commander rarely needed to exercise any true form of discipline. Showing up late to a battle was a mortifying experience no one ever repeated.

Gods. What is that woman doing to me.

Darien felt he wasn't completely at fault. When he'd gone to sleep, they were in deep space with nothing anywhere near them that wanted to draw the attention of their commander. Apparently Exolar had outdone itself somehow. Darien promised he'd find out later, although in reality it didn't take much to piss off a Brion warship.

He sneaked out of the drop pod, thinking of joining the battle where it was fiercest and working as hard as he could to redeem himself. But naturally, with the eerie gift he had of always being where someone was trying to actively avoid him, Diego Grothan stood right in Darien’s way. Covered with blood that was already drying, signaling the time he'd already spent in battle. His spear looked ragged too, as if it had had a decent workout.

"General," Darien began, knowing it was futile.

His commander graced him with the kind of smile one usually saw on predators right before their next meal.

"Darien," he said. "It's good of you to join us, at your leisure. I hope it's not too much to ask that you join us in the last hours of this campaign."

Ah, well. Darien wasn't one of Diego Grothan's chosen by chance or by not knowing how to deal with his general. Backing down wasn't a Brion trait.

"You could have woken me, general," he said defiantly. "And yes, of course I will do as you command."

"I could have," the commander admitted with a feral grin. "But I thought this was much more fun."

And they say I have a terrible sense of humor.

"Not to mention you might find it hard to believe, but I manage to wage war without you," his commander went on, making Darien groan.

"Alright, alright," he said. "You made your point. Can I go kill something now? You can punish me later."

Diego Grothan just laughed.

"I will punish you when I feel like it. For example, right now. Go and find Deliya, all clean and rested as you are, after she's been fighting for hours now."

Darien went, reveling in the fresh piece of eternal damnation that had just been afforded to him.

At least he'd quickly read up on Exolar on his way down to the planet. The Exolar were stubborn bastards, not unlike the Brions. They were having some petty dispute with the Galactic Union, one they didn't apparently mind taking up weapons for. If they were willing to go against Brions, the issue might not have been so petty after all.

They looked like the Brions did too, mostly. The blueish tone of their skin was the only difference that was visible, though there were also rumors of telepathy. Darien was fine with either. They spoke one of the main languages, which meant he could shout threats at them, or they could pick them from his head. Just as well. Insults would be hurled one way or the other.

He was still thinking of what else the commander might have in store for him, stalking through the remnants of a gruesome battleground, when he found Deliya. She was driving a group of Exolar out of their hiding behind a crooked, crumbling building, when one of them managed to trip her on the rubble. His distraction almost cost him her life.

How very foolish of him. A warrior never dropped his guard, even if the battle seemed to be mostly done. Weapons didn't get less deadly as the battle progressed. On the contrary, the closer the end, the more desperate the enemy was bound to be.

That wasn't the only distraction.

The realization hit so hard that for a moment, Darien seemed to step out of time in pure shock. If he hadn't been preparing,
hoping
for it, all he might have gotten out of his fated was to see her die before his eyes. It was common for Brion men to be lost in the recognizing moment, which was why they never wanted it to happen in battle.

Darien moved, still feeling his whole body vibrate in the ecstatic sensation of having found the one who was his now. His and his alone. It should not have come as a surprise that the moment descended upon him right when the timing was the worst possible one, but that was how life had been going for Darien lately. Never a dull moment. Not with Deliya in his sights, at least.

The Exolar saw him coming, but they had no time to stop him before he tore right through their ranks, spraying them all in blood in his fury. He couldn’t tell how many he cut down, how many screamed in anguish around him as he mowed through them like they were little more than sticks and he a battle axe honed and sharpened to perfection.

There was still one standing over Deliya, holding a blaster against her head, but for some reason it didn't concern Darien much. His blood seemed to be on fire and a grin dragged the corners of his mouth upwards.

"You better step away," he growled at the Exolar. "No man comes between me and my
gesha
."

CHAPTER TWELVE

Deliya

Deliya didn't know who was more shocked, her or the enemy.

She'd been careless, seeing him coming from the corner of her eye. For some reason, she always seemed acutely aware of his presence and found him in any crowd without difficulty, even when she didn’t want to. When she fell, Deliya had been prepared to overcome his enemy and then give Darien a piece of her mind for being so godsdamn distracting. Not his fault and she wasn't really complaining, but still.

Then he'd spoken and her world was shattered apart.

In the back of her mind, Deliya was aware of the gun still pointed at her, but she'd completely dropped her guard. It barely seemed to matter. Not to mention, as much as she could tell, the Exolar actually started to move away.

Both of their reactions were due to that one word that had been haunting her for far longer than she would care to admit -
gesha
.

Only the gods themselves knew why it had to happen now. Why after months of desperately wanting it, fate chose to mark this very moment as the time that they could truly become on another’s. Perhaps it was because both of them had come to grip with the fickle reality of never knowing what was in store, or better yet, because they’d both devoted themselves to waiting and conquering the unpredictable nature of fate.

Whatever it was, it was here now. And the look in Darien’s eyes left Deliya with no doubt of his truthfulness.

Finally
, was the only thing that really popped into her head. 

Deliya’a life was suddenly and inexplicably made whole. And the Exolar certainly knew of the word and of the Brion ways. Darien was right. After the recognizing moment, the Brion men were terrible to behold, unstoppable. With the
gesha
suddenly being the center of their world, they didn't stop for anything, or anyone. To challenge one was to commit to the worst kind of death.

Even she was a bit afraid, but only of whether they'd even make it back to the
Triumphant
before he claimed her.

In the same moment, Darien looked like he always had and still made her feel like she was seeing him for the first time. A fire raged behind his eyes, the grin on his lips promising death to the enemy and something much more pleasant for her. Perhaps dying of a kind, too, drowning themselves in the throes of their passion.

The Exolar was backing away, looking around and finding himself to be alone. Everyone else had died in Darien's lighting quick attack, so fast even Deliya had had a hard time seeing him or keeping count of the carnage in his wake. The recognizing moment was supposed to be dizzying, shaking the man apart from everything he'd been before. But after that, they were more whole than ever and they had a purpose they'd never abandon.

From under his dark curls, Darien watched the Exolar back away with a horrible, merciless grin. Already, the enemy was beginning to see there was no way out of there for him. In that moment, reality finally came back to Deliya too. That would
not
be the day she died, not now.

She grabbed her spear, preparing to skewer the enemy, only to find him aiming wildly at her, his finger on the trigger. The next moment, Deliya felt the air itself being split sharply as Darien's spear hit the Exolar straight in the chest. He stumbled back several steps before his body caught up to the fact that he was dead. Then he collapsed like so much useless flesh and bone.

And Deliya found herself being pulled up, straight into Darien's amazingly strong arms. As he wrapped her into his embrace, it felt like he'd never truly done it before. There was something new, something beyond lust and desire in his gray eyes. Deliya found herself lost in them and lost in the maddening, thundering relief she felt, shaking through her like some kind of earthquake that only she could feel.

Darien was hers, she knew that now. The Brion bind was unbreakable, ever-lasting. If she was his, they would never, ever have to let go of each other. And she wasn’t planning on doing that, not even if commanded by the general himself.

He kissed her wildly, biting at her lips. She felt the desperation in his body acutely because it was mirrored in hers. Darien's hands were buried into her hair, pulling her deeper, stronger into the kiss that might have hurt if they didn't relinquish the mad lust of it. He tasted sweeter than ever, all the better for being hers, finally.

His hands groped her all over, mapping her body, claiming it with his touch while his tongue demanded the same from her mouth. Deliya pressed herself against him, willing to give as she got, because everything she was and ever could be
did
belong to him now. Every inch of her body and every breath she took.

She was shaking when they finally had to part for air, twin smiles playing on their lips. Panting slightly, fingers absently tracing each other's bodies, they stared at each other with dizzying relief. Longing, loving.

"You were late," Deliya said. "If you sit into a shuttle like this, I doubt you'll ever outlive it. We better find you some enemies."

"Yes," Darien agreed, smirking.

"If I know him at all, the commander already hinted I'll be dropping with the first pod for the next few months."

Deliya laughed, agreeing. That sounded like their general.

"And afterward," she said, "I might be persuaded to let you into my room."

Darien's eyes flashed with desire, looking at her with a knowing grin. Deliya didn't mind it. She was baiting him, after all, teasing out the wild beast in him, wanting all of it for herself and herself alone.

"Might be," he repeated.

"We'll see about that, Deliya-the-star, my
gesha
. I don't think there's much anything you won't let me do from now on. In
our
room."

His words sent pleasant shivers down Deliya's spine, promising everything she'd ever wanted from him, in the very near future.

"You won't send me away so easily this time," Darien said, kissing her again before starting to walk back to where the battle was still raging, considering it absently at best as he seemed to only have eyes for her.

"No," Deliya agreed, smiling, "I will never send you away again."

Don’t miss the excerpt of Vi’s next book,
Alien Warrior’s Wife
, on the next page!

Alien Warrior’s Wife

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ALIEN WARRIOR’S WIFE EXCERPT

First of all, he’s built like a god. A huge god.

Alright, she could agree with that. Narath was what the word “huge” was probably invented to describe. He had nearly filled the little med bay when he’d visited, standing as tall as the commander, but where Diego was lean and quick, Narath was a formidable powerhouse with arms so thick she would have struggled to encircle one with both palms even at the narrowest. She’d seen him shirtless too, unknown to him.

A healer was often required to stand guard in case something went really wrong during practice with the huge machines that probably didn’t even have a safety function. There was a lot to see, for example how many muscle groups a warrior could have. So yes, there was definitely that.

Second of all, he growls,
her mind continued – ever since her conversation with Seleya that had nearly cost Urenya her career she was constantly analyzing herself.

Now that was more difficult to understand, but it was true. She was irrationally fond of the way his already low voice dropped to almost inaudible levels when he was aroused – which certainly didn’t escape her attention when she’d been kneeling between his legs – and the way it made her skin shiver as though the sound waves literally caressed her.

And thirdly, of course, you practically fondled him.

Urenya didn’t start to protest that, because it would have been suggesting she wasn’t aware at all times of what she was doing with her patients, and besides, yes, her hands didn’t necessarily need to go up that high but…

And well, he’s huge.

Ah, yes. That too. She hadn’t actually been out to do anything inappropriate, she’d merely wanted to touch more of that solid, steel-like body in front of her. It wasn’t as though he hadn’t clearly been enjoying it. No, she’d brushed against his cock entirely by accident because she simply hadn’t thought it could, well, reach that far.