Alien Warrior's Challenge: SciFi Alien - Human Fated Mates Romance (Brion Brides Book 8) Read online

  At one point, the soldier had asked her for an ID two feet from the previous check point. He'd been reading her name over the shoulder of the previous check point guard.

  Now, Paula walked right into the headquarters – nothing more than a small bunker under the last working shield on the battlefield, flicking like a fluorescent light. It was disquieting, reminding her of horror movies that took place in haunted asylums.

  The security is completely out of hand here, Paula thought.

  She looked for the major in the group of men all tastefully dressed in the brown of the Terran army, and that was without counting the layers of mud upon them.

  The task was harder than she'd imagined. All the men looked pale and overworked, their eyes distant, already speaking of the weariness of war. Paula formed her professional opinion at once.

  Never mind security. These guys lack for sanity, first.

  Perhaps Major Burton was contagious, somehow. As much as she'd had the dubitable pleasure of his company, the highest military commander on Jumel was utterly insane.

  Not in the evil kind of way. He wasn't crueler, more selfish or a bigger sociopath than the job description demanded. While Paula had nothing but loathing for the man on a personal level as well as not agreeing with all his tactical choices – though, granted, she was a medic and not a tactician and perhaps shouldn’t have had many opinions on the matter to begin with -, she had to give him credit for being there.

  As she finally caught sight of the commander and he of her, coming towards Paula with heavy, drudging steps, the fact that he hadn't left the field for a moment since the war began was obvious. For all the faults he had and she could recite many, the major wasn't the kind to lead from a reinforced fortress miles behind the front line, sipping cocktail drinks and playing tennis while his soldiers died.

  Looking at his sunken eyes and empty gaze, it wasn't necessarily a compliment.

  "When was the last time you slept, Major?" she asked, predicting his answer word for word.

  The bear of a man regarded her with the sort of affection reserved for tax collectors and auditors. Major Burton was big. That was the first word anyone associated him with. There was a wealth of raw strength about him and a huge belly to match it. Dark, ever-narrowed eyes; a bald head and thick beard completed the image of a textbook officer of the Terran army, commanding obedience and respect with his simple presence.

  "I'll sleep when I'm dead, Miss Allen," the major barked at her, the only form of speaking he practiced. "What are you doing here? This is a military command center."

  "It's Dr. Allen. Why did they let me in then, Major?" Paula asked, shaking her head in the next moment, refusing to get into something she had no time for. "Never mind that. I needed to talk to you. The enemy is advancing."

  The look in Burton's eyes came to life for a moment to glare at her. It was very obvious the dislike Paula felt for him was mutual. She wasn't surprised in the slightest.

  Before the mission, Burton had had no qualms with calling her presence "distracting", "a nuisance" and "unnecessary". He had a point in there somewhere, but like always, the major only scratched the surface of the real problem.

  "Indeed," he growled at her. "I hadn't noticed. Leave, Miss Allen. I have a war to run."

  "Dr. Allen, Major," Paula replied with absolute calm, knowing the Galactic Union had her back as far as the commander was concerned.

  His discomfort was none of her business, even if she did understand that the major wasn't used to the kind of war she forced upon him. One with actual goals.

  By gods, I had to be raging mad on the day I volunteered for this.

  "Spare me, girl," Burton snapped at her. "After all this is over and done with, you get to take some easy job somewhere in a pretty metropolis while my men and I will head on to some other inglorious ditch. You can leave your attitude for your friends and colleagues, bring none of it here."

  Like you don't love that.

  Out loud, Paula sighed, hating the major more than the usual share at that moment for striking at a weakness too close to home.

  "No such escape for me," she admitted. "I signed up for the long run. The Union will dump me where it pleases until my contract runs out, in eight years or so. We might even end up on the same world again. Wouldn't that be fun?"

  To spare them both the pain of imagining that fate, Paula went on.

  "As for the war, I kindly ask that you remember why we're here. The Eden seeds are vital to the galaxy. How far are we from the grove?"

  It was clear the major wasn't used to being questioned like that. Especially by women and most assuredly women like her.

  Paula had encountered that attitude before. So far, no one had been as straight-forward about it like Burton was. He'd called her "blondie" on the first day they met and while it was a derogatory term she'd already met a few times in her career, the major made it a straight-out insult. It had only been the beginning.

  Things went quickly downhill from there.

  She supposed they deserved each other, in a way. It was difficult for the major to accept the average-height woman with dark blonde hair and – by some fucked-up joke of genetics – light blue eyes as someone with authority.

  Just as it was almost impossible for Paula to imagine the bull of a man in front of her, with a face only a mother could love, as anything else than a blockhead.

  It certainly didn't help that Paula was the ambassador of the Galactic Union in the matter of the planet and its precious seeds. She had the higher authority, as far as the general picture went. On the field, however, Burton maintained control.

  "We are about two miles away," the major grunted, tearing the words from his throat like even talking to her pained him. "Have you come to beg me to take it easier on the poor lads? You healers are all so–"

  "I'm going to stop you right there," Paula cut in, holding on to the last threads of her composure. "First, I don't beg. Secondly, I am here to ask why are we not pushing forward? We sit here in the open like ducks during the first day of the hunting season."

  A cruel smile dawned on Major Burton's lips as he regarded her from head to toe.

  "Well, well," he said, right on cue like the bastard he was. "Charges cost lives, do you know that? You want me to send men out there to die before the enemy's guns?"

  Paula had to keep herself from worrying her bottom lip in irritation.

  “Staying here costs lives as well. I don't want anyone to die. However, I can't help it if the Hoolas are so incredibly possessive it kills them to let us have the seeds. I'm telling you to push ahead, Major, by the will of the Galactic Union. We are too close to slow down."

  She didn’t add what both of them had to be thinking. That delaying any further might mean that the Hoolas wipe them off their precious planet before the Brions could ever show up.

  The major bristled at being talked to like that and Paula busied herself with not caring. There would be time for tact later, and the major had shown clearly from the beginning that he didn’t value that notion very highly.

  After hesitating for a second, she added: "Where are the Brions? Are they coming?"

  "Yes," the major said reluctantly. "We don't know when. That's why I have not charged. It would be good to know if we have backup or not."

  Now it was Paula's turn to grit her teeth in fury.

  "What's wrong with them?" she asked angrily. "Usually you can't drag them away from a fight. You'd think this is a ball for them."

  The major grinned, a horrible expression on a face not used to smiling. It made him look like an orangutan trying to mimic human emotions.

  "As far as we're told, that's the issue. They are consulting their Elders back on Briolina. The Hoolas might be beneath their skills as warriors. If they decide our enemy is easy pickings, they won't come."

  Paula bit back a long trail of curses. The Brions really were infuriating. The most powerful warriors in the Union and they couldn't be relied upon.

  When the e
nemy was too strong for the other species, the Brions appeared at the blink of an eye, grinning ear to ear, their sharp spears soon bloodied. Opponents like Hoolas, however, that the rest simply struggled with, were a whole another issue.

  And in the meanwhile, men keep dying.

  "They're unbelievable," Paula finally said, unable to find a decent enough curse to portray her feelings.

  "Aren't they?" Major Burton asked, still wearing that grin on his wide face. "They don't take orders from anyone, not even the Union. Only their Elders.

  “Imagine that. I should have been born a Brion."

  Yeah? Well, you have the brutality and self-righteousness checked off, sure. But how about honor, courtesy and pride?

  Paula was about to say some of it, politely phrased of course, when the headquarters shook so hard she fell five feet on a flat ground. Major Burton caught her midair, breaking her fall with his big body, covering her from the falling debris.

  As the roof collapsed, she knew she owed the man. The chunks of the roof were falling and she could hear Burton grunting in pain, refusing to move until the worst was over.

  It was clear the last shield had fallen. The Hoolas had landed a direct hit with their long-range cannons and there was almost nothing left after the earth-shattering explosion that had hit them. It was a miracle they were still alive.

  Paula and the major struggled to their feet as the clear sound of a fighter closed in, threatening to deafen them further.

  There were no fighters like that in the Terran army.

  “Come on,” Paula gasped, tugging at the major to move.

  They rushed out of the ruins of the headquarters with everyone that was still breathing.

  Stepping outside was like landing on another world. The darkness that had enveloped the ruined base made a stark contrast with the lights shining in Paula’s face now, and the small fires blazing all around her. Above, a Brion fighter hovered close to the ground, shielding them from the fire of the attacking enemies.

  Paula could barely see the enemy fighters through the fire and smoke, but she could hear the guns.

  It looked like the Brion fighter didn't need to go and charge the enemy. The Hoolas were managing that themselves quite fine.

  A unit of four Hoolas ran out of the cover of smoke to prove her analysis correct. Paula pulled the gun from her hip and the soldiers with her started firing as well, but she already knew she was dead. They were too close, she could see the whites of their big eyes.

  Shit.

  A figure appeared from the fighter above, crashing right in front of Paula. It was a warrior unlike any Paula had ever seen before, built like a tank and strong like an ox, his battle spear drawn and a growl on his lips.

  He was a head taller than Major Burton, with biceps like barrels tied together and eyes of deepest ocean blue. His dark black hair was combed back into a small ponytail and the valor squares, the marks of Brion warriors, were shining blood red on his thick neck.

  In a flash, he was standing between Paula and the enemies. The battle spear in his hand, taller than she, cut through the air in four perfect strikes before the Hoolas could even see he was there.

  When he turned, the gaze of those impossibly fierce eyes fell on her and Paula knew in that moment she'd have a hard time hating that particular Brion. Damn. Double damn. I guess all the rumors were true. They do make these bastards as gorgeous as they come.

  As much as she would have loved to admire the man, staying alive seemed to be a more pressing issue at the moment.

  4

  Kerven

  As soon as the fighter signaled it had stopped, Kerven jumped out into a world of fire and smoke. The long battle spear was already in his hand, ready to face anything the Hoolas might throw at him, his senses as sharp as the blade he was holding.

  The first thing he heard was not a battle cry. It was a scream and the female was clearly in trouble.

  Kerven dashed towards the sound, identifying her in the gray cloud of dust and smoke. Jumping between her and a squad of Hoolas, the captain quickly finished them within four strikes, the blade of his spear bloodied, marking the start of the battle for him.

  He was looking around for a new target when his eyes fell upon the female and his life as he'd known and lived it so far was swiftly and irrevocably ended.

  She was a beautiful thing, with big blue eyes and dark blonde hair flowing in the dusty winds. The brown uniform wasn't doing any favors to her gorgeous body, but even through that distraction Kerven could still see the perfect curves that were begging him to rip the cloth away and worship her like she deserved.

  The female was observing him with sharp, clever eyes and the look in them told him in no uncertain terms she was thinking something along similar lines.

  There was no doubt about it, she was the most breathtakingly beautiful woman he'd ever seen. However, that was not why she seemed to stop his heart in his chest.

  In that moment, on the dusty, worthless rock in space, in the middle of nowhere for all intents and purposes... he'd found his gesha, his sacred mate for life. Kerven knew the female standing in front of him, refusing to back down an inch or look away before he did, was the one he was bound to.

  To see her, to even be near her, made it seem like an emptiness the captain hadn't noticed inside him was now gone. With one look, she had made him whole, his entire life complete. With every next one, who knew what she could urge him on to be?

  Kerven felt invincible in the face of that enormous discovery.

  My gesha…

  Suddenly, all of the actions of his commander after finding his gesha, some of which he had found himself questioning at times, now made perfect sense.

  "You saved my life," the female said then, slightly breathless.

  She ducked past him for a moment, shooting a Hoola that was charging up right behind him, before turning her attention back to him.

  He couldn’t help but grin.

  Beauty and fierceness.

  "Thank you. I am Dr. Paula Allen. If you don't count the big guy there, I'm sort of in charge,” she said, motioning at a large Terran man, who seemed wounded but furious regardless of the extent of his injuries. “Now, if you don't mind, would you kindly kill a few more of those bastards before they stomp us into the ground?"

  The captain's heart leaped. She was exactly as he'd imagined – a force of a woman, as strong as she was gorgeous. By the looks of her, she had spent at least a week on the battlefield. The fatigue he noticed didn't make her any less enticing to him.

  On the contrary, it made Kerven want to possess her utterly, to make her eyes burn in passion for him and him alone. A woman who could withstand hardship like that of a war as gruesome as this one was worth all of him, immediately.

  "As you wish," he said, seeing the way his deep, forceful voice made her jolt slightly under his gaze and give him a longer look.

  It was entirely out of place, seeing as death was raining down all around them. Yet he wouldn’t have traded it for anything, quickly storing the way she looked at that very moment to memory.

  The sight went straight to his cock. The captain couldn't stop imagining her body under the uniform, how her voice would sound in bed, how her back would arch when he claimed her...

  The roar of the enemies reminded Kerven that they were still there. Giving the female one more look, he dove into the melee and didn't return until the charge had been beaten back. Even then, he had never been more distracted in a battle. Not a step or a strike passed without the captain dreaming of pulling the female against him and tasting her plush, inviting lips.

  Come what may, I will not leave this planet without her.

  5

  Paula

  Well, fuck.

  A distraction wasn't what she needed, yet that was what the Brion captain was, pretty obviously. She figured that out when she noticed herself almost beginning to stitch up the wrong leg of her next patient. Luckily she caught her error before making a single stitch.


  You sure told him, her unhelpful memory provided to add insult to injury, making Paula groan silently.

  She had, hadn't she?

  What a perfect start to any sort of relationship, professional or not: "Hi, I'm Paula. You saved my life. Thanks. Now go kill things."

  Great material there. I'll be here all week, thank you, thank you, no autographs.

  The Brions were there to help, the smug bunch of walking protein shake commercials. She doubted the warrior – the most handsome man she'd ever met – was there to find dating possibilities. Brions had peculiar ways of dating to begin with. Always on the search for their fated, all others were just practice and amusement.

  Paula didn't plan on being either of those things.

  Which left concentrating on her work, on helping people as the war slowly seemed to be going away, as the only thing to really focus on. At the very least, the battle seemed to at least be retreating thanks to the insertion of the Brions, however few.

  In truth, Paula knew it was at best an illusion. This couldn’t end so easily, the Hoolas would not allow it.

  Though at least something was moving in the right direction and she was determined to take solace in that.

  The plane of rocky, muddy earth that had been the front line for many agonizing days was now quiet. She could hear her own thoughts, she could see more than five feet without rocks blowing up in her face. That was something, right?

  There was still the noise of the war, of course. In the background, the battle raged on, only now the tide had turned. So far, the Hoolas had been slowly but surely gaining ground. Their superior firepower had made it almost impossible to ever get to the point of hand-to-hand combat.

  Now Brions pushed them back. With solemn certainty, they just kept going. Paula couldn't see much, other than their fading backs as they drove the Hoolas back to their camp.

  It still left the Eden seeds grove out of reach, but Paula didn't doubt everything was going to be fine now. Brions didn't have a reputation for quitting. It didn't matter that the grove was guarded by the largest force of the Hoolas. For the first time in weeks, Paula had hope.