Taken by the Alien Warrior

  Taken by the Alien Warrior

  Hope Hart

  Contents

  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

  Epilogue

  Chapter One

  Ellie

  Unlike most people, I always believed in aliens. Don’t get me wrong—I never thought they were part of a giant conspiracy, hidden by all the governments on Earth. But I always thought it was supremely arrogant for us humans to believe we were alone in the universe. That our planet just so happened to be the only one capable of supporting intelligent life.

  Please.

  “Earth to Crazy Pants,” a voice sounds, and I ignore it, continuing to rock back and forth.

  I was as surprised as anyone when the Arcav made it clear that they were now in charge. But I shrugged my shoulders, did my compulsory blood test, and almost fainted with relief when I wasn’t a genetic match and therefore not an Arcav mate.

  “Yeah, her lights are on, but no one’s home.”

  I ignore that too, my rocking picking up speed.

  I never thought I’d won the genetic lottery until that point. I’d been the last kid picked in gym, I’d never been particularly fast on my feet, and as much as I can appreciate the Arcav’s incredible bodies and lethal-looking horns, there’s no way I’ll ever be strong enough to deal with a male like that.

  “She’s totally checked out.” The first voice sounds irritated. “We need to work together if we have a shot of getting out of here.”

  I’m a kindergarten teacher. Plus, I have a boyfriend. Kind of. He’s a friend, anyway. And a few weeks ago, it looked like he would kiss me. Then he blushed and turned away, mumbling something I couldn’t hear. Tim’s kind and interesting, and dedicated to his job, just like me. Sure, he’s kinda geeky, but so am I.

  The ship shudders, and I blink. It’s getting more and more difficult to pretend I’m not being abducted by aliens. No matter how much I try to wake up, it’s just not happening.

  Voices sound across the cage. I shake my head. Across the room. I can’t be in a cage. That’s not happening to me.

  “Girl, get down. They’ll hurt you!” someone shouts.

  “Where are we?” a woman asks, and I mentally roll my eyes. Even I can figure that out, and I’m buried so deep in denial I’m almost choking on it.

  “I-I think it’s some sort of alien ship,” someone replies. “We’ve all been kidnapped. You were one of the last to wake up.”

  Not me. I was one of the first.

  No one speaks as a huge shape blocks the light. I squeeze my eyes closed like a child. If I can’t see the alien, maybe it can’t see me.

  “Sit,” the voice rumbles, and my eyes fly open. A fucking Grivath is in the cage with us—a hulking gray monster that looks like he could easily eat us and spit out our bones.

  “Where are we?” the same woman asks, and I have to admire her spine. She may be an idiot, but at least she’s not pretending she’s still at home in her safe bed like I am.

  I lift my head enough to see the creature’s grin.

  “Nowhere near your planet.”

  A scream leaves her throat, and I sit up, scooting back to the huddle of women who are hugging the wall.

  “Let me go home! I need to go home!” she cries. She lunges, attempting to hit him, and he pulls a strange weapon, firing it at her until she falls to the hard floor.

  Someone’s murmuring to the woman, likely making sure she’s all right. I jolt as someone touches my shoulder, and they quickly snatch their hand back as if I’m a wild animal.

  I turn and meet huge amber eyes set in a striking face.

  “What’s your name?” the woman whispers, and I swallow.

  “Eleanor—Ellie.”

  “Ellie, my name is Nevada. It’s going to be all right, okay?”

  Tears finally fill my eyes. Maybe this is the acceptance part. “You really think so?”

  She nods firmly, and I blow out a breath. I wish I had a drop of Nevada’s confidence.

  I don’t know how much time passes, but we all sit in silence, scared to draw the attention of the Grivath. His people have been at war with for the Arcav for centuries, but the Arcav promised to keep humans safe.

  Major fail, assholes. We’re a long way from safety.

  When the Grivath returns, it’s with a large group of his huge gray friends. One of them reaches for Nevada, and she scoots back, kicking out at him. He simply grabs her by the arm, and it’s as if her punches and kicks don’t even register as he hauls her away.

  I get to my knees, wishing I could do something, anything, but then I’m shrieking as a Grivath reaches for me, throwing me over his shoulder.

  My struggles are useless, but I can hear other women screaming as we’re all carried out. I lift my head and see the women who are left staring after us, shocked.

  Do something! I want to scream at them, but they’re stuck in a cage. There’s nothing they can do.

  The Grivath carries me down a long corridor, following the screams of the other women taken from the cage.

  Eventually, the air becomes warmer, and I bounce on the Grivath’s shoulder as he walks down some stairs. Sounds assault my ears. After the tense quiet of the cage, it’s terrifying, and thanks to the translator in my ear, I can make out some of the words roared in the distance.

  When I was young, my dad flipped houses. He’d take me to auctions, and I loved the excitement of the crowd almost as much as I loved spending time with my dad. The auctioneer confused me, but my dad would simply laugh and lift me onto his shoulders when he decided not to bid anymore so I could watch and listen.

  That’s exactly what this is. Some of my most cherished memories have been replaced with this nightmare.

  We’re suddenly surrounded by aliens as the Grivath walk us through the crowd. No one dares touch, but they discuss us as if we’re cattle at a market.

  “Human females,” someone mutters. “Expensive but worth it.”

  Dear God, please tell me I’m not going to be sold at an auction.

  The world spins, and I’m suddenly placed on my feet. I stumble as the blood rushes from my head, and sniggers sound from the crowd.

  I’m standing on a long, raised platform with all the other women. One by one, aliens from the crowd bid on us, the winners taking their women as soon as their auctions are finished, ignoring their desperate screams.

  I try to tune it all out. In my mind, the avid gazes staring at us are really my kindergarteners looking up at me from their desks. My denial almost works until it’s my turn.

  I don’t understand what the shouted numbers mean, but I stand on the platform in my flannel pajamas and stare over the crowd. The auctioneer is a tall greenish alien with a tail, and he uses that tail to poke my hip, making the crowd roar with amusement as I shriek and slap it away.

  This seems to drive up my price, and I turn my head, meeting Nevada’s gaze. She’s standing with another group of women who seem to have been bought together. It doesn’t escape me that they’re all gorgeous. Nevada’s tall, curved in all the right places, and her toned, tan legs speak of an active lifestyle. She’s obviously fit, and muscles dance in her arm when she attempts to shrug off the purple alien holding her.

  The bidding continues, and I let my mind wander, choosing not to be here while I’m s
old like a piece of meat. Why were we taken? How were we chosen? I run my gaze over the other human women, all of whom look like they could model professionally. I’m the odd one out, and my brain immediately goes to work, attempting to figure out how this could have happened.

  I’m practically estranged from my mother, but I was in Louisiana on a rare visit to her and my sister when I was taken.

  Amelia.

  Ah, it all makes sense now. I bet the Grivath took me by mistake. One more thing to blame my sister for.

  I can no longer ignore the roars of the crowd, and even my ability to mentally go elsewhere fails as one of the purple aliens grins, pleased. He’s obviously the winner, and I’m pushed along until I reach Nevada and the other women.

  Two more women are sold into our group. One of them trips, falling to her knees as she sobs too hard to watch where she’s going. A purple alien immediately kicks her, and we all hear a crack as his foot hits her ribs.

  One of his friends snaps at him, dragging the woman to her feet and pushing her toward us.

  “Are you okay?” I murmur, and she simply shakes her head, bent over as she gasps for air.

  There are still more women left on the stage, but the assholes who bought our group gesture for us to move.

  We all ignore them until one of them reaches for a weapon similar to the one that the Grivath used on the screaming woman on the ship.

  Just like that, we’re all moving, none of us wanting to experience the complete incapacitation that comes from a shock like that.

  I study the aliens as we’re marched back toward where we came from. It’s some kind of dock, with a row of ships parked next to the one the Grivath used.

  The aliens are a pale purple color, with curved horns that remind me of goats. They’re vicious, quick to hit and kick if we don’t move quickly enough. The alien behind me gets impatient when I hesitate and jolts me with the weapon in his hand.

  I shriek, pain hitting my entire body, but the weapon is obviously not as bad as the one the Grivath used because I manage to stay on my feet, terrified of falling to the ground where I’d be even more vulnerable.

  Finally, we stop, and the aliens gesture for us to climb the stairs to their ship.

  We all glance at each other as we take in our new ride. It looks like a rust bucket. If it were a car, it certainly wouldn’t be roadworthy.

  “Move!” one of the aliens screams at us, waving his weapon threateningly, and we all jump into motion, climbing the stairs.

  It can’t have been an hour since we were brought here, and we’ve already been sold. Terror hits me, and my knees are shaking almost too badly for me to walk up the stairs.

  Our lives will never be the same.

  Terex

  Rakiz eyes me over the fire, and I stare back. My king respects strength and quickly grows tired of those who scrape and kneel.

  Today, though, his mood is dark.

  “One of our mishua was taken last night. From right under our noses. The Voildi are becoming bolder.”

  I grit my teeth. The Voildi have been a problem for centuries. If we had the forces, we could kill them all, making this planet a safer place for everyone.

  Unfortunately, unlike us, they do not suffer from a shortage of females. They continue to breed and breed, and now they come to our territory and dare to take a mishua?

  “They must be taught a lesson,” I say.

  Rakiz shifts, finally gesturing to a servant, who offers me a drink. I reach out for the offered cup, enjoying the burn as the cool noptri removes some of the tension from my shoulders.

  I wait for Rakiz to speak. This is where we usually disagree. I may be in charge of our forces, but I am a warrior first. His attempts to keep me from hunting have long caused tension between us.

  Ultimately, I will obey my king’s orders for the good of our tribe. But I don’t have to like them.

  Rakiz narrows his eyes as if reading my mind, and I raise an eyebrow, shifting my weight. After a long day of training with my men, I would prefer to find a willing female to tumble beneath me and then sleep the night away. I frown. Recently, the tumble has not been worth the inevitable tears and tantrums that follow when the female in question realizes that I do not have any plans to take a mate.

  Perhaps just a hot meal and a good sleep, then.

  “Send Deraz and Asroz,” he says.

  I grit my teeth. “Respectfully, the Voildi must feel that they have enough numbers to take anyone we send if they are brave enough to come so far into our territory. Deraz and Asroz will need help. They are not yet seasoned enough to take down an entire pack of Voildi.”

  Rakiz stares at me. “And I suppose they need my most experienced warrior to go with them.”

  “Actually—”

  “Enough.”

  I grind my teeth, heeding Rakiz’s warning tone. But my eyes likely show my displeasure because he finally sighs.

  “With our forces in the North, we are coming perilously close to having too few warriors here to protect the tribe from attack. You have three days to remove this pack of Voildi from the face of this planet.”

  I nod. The Voildi stink, and they are terrible at concealing their tracks. Three days is longer than I had expected.

  “Thank you,” I say, getting up to leave.

  Rakiz sighs. “Be careful.”

  I nod again and exit his tashiv, inhaling the brisk air. Winter is finally making way for warmer weather, but the nights are still cold, and I shrug my cloak over my shoulders, taking a moment to finger the long cut in the material.

  “That needs to be repaired,” a voice says, and I turn.

  Learza smiles at me.

  “I must leave tomorrow on a hunt,” I say, and her face falls. “I will have it fixed when I return.”

  She nods, her eyes meeting mine. “I would be happy to stay with you tonight,” she says boldly.

  I eye her. I tumbled Learza many years ago. I would never tell her, but it was a mistake. I had assumed it was two friends releasing some tension. She thought it was a guarantee that she would be the last female in my bed.

  With so few females available, they have many warriors to choose from. However, many of them wish for a life closer to the throne.

  Rakiz has no heir and no brothers, which means that I remain next in line should he fall. But I will lay down my own life before I allow that to happen. I have never met a better, more just ruler than our king.

  I am already forced to spend too much time close to our camp and not enough time hunting and fighting. I would wither away if I were forced to make decisions over others’ lives and prevented from hunting the Voildi.

  “Thank you,” I say. “But I must rest before we leave at dawn.”

  Ellie

  New ship, new cage. These aliens don’t seem to care if we talk, and they’ve left us alone after dumping us in a cage even smaller than the one on the last ship.

  A woman is currently pacing back and forth in front of the locked cage door. Other than me, she’s the shortest woman here, but where I’m curvy and plump, she’s tiny and petite, so I’ve mentally nicknamed her Tinker Bell.

  “We have to get out of here,” she hisses, and Nevada nods her head.

  “How though? Those bastards have the keys.”

  “What’s the end goal?” another voice speaks up, and I turn to the woman who was kicked in the ribs when she fell. Her face is still pale as she sits hunched over and leaning against the wall.

  “What do you mean?” Nevada asks.

  “Well, say we get out of here. You think we can kill those aliens and take this ship? Any of you guys flown a spaceship before?”

  Her tone is lightly sarcastic, but she’s not wrong.

  “What do you think, Ellie?” Nevada asks.

  I hesitate. There are more of us than there are of them, unless they had a bunch of aliens staying put on the ship while their friends bought us. But this is a pretty small ship. The problem? They’re armed.

  I ch
ew my lip and shrug. “The weapons are an issue.”

  Another woman snorts. “That’s putting it lightly.”

  Of all of us, this woman is the one who stands out. She was wearing red lingerie when she was taken, and she has the body of a Victoria’s Secret model. She stood on that stage as if she was bored, rolling her eyes while she was auctioned.

  Lingerie’s face was pale, and her hands shook, but you have to admire someone who can bullshit their way through life with that kind of confidence.

  Another woman shifts, raising her hand, and blushes at Lingerie’s snort. Tinker Bell sends Lingerie a look and nods at the hand raiser.

  She shivers in her thin T-shirt, and I finger my flannel. I’ve never been happier to sleep in completely unsexy flannel pajamas. While I’m cold, I’m not shivering as much as some of the other women.

  “Do any of you have any kind of training?” Hand-Raiser asks. “Do you think we could take them down?”

  Nevada nods. “I’m a marine. I’m willing to give it a try.”

  I raise my eyebrows. That explains the muscles and the attitude. For the first time, I feel a spark of hope.

  “Anyone else?” I ask.

  “I’m a firefighter with a black belt in karate,” one of the women says, and Nevada smiles.

  “Excellent.” Nevada glances at the rest of us, and we all shake our heads. There are eight of us, and only two have any experience with combat.

  I sigh. For a split second, I got my hopes up. My talents lie elsewhere. I can comfort a crying six-year-old or convince a child that putting their pencil up their nose isn’t a good idea, but I’m not tough or strong. And the thought of taking on one of those aliens…

  But what other choice do we have? Wherever they’re taking us next is guaranteed to be even worse than where we are now. The kind of people who buy other people aren’t likely to treat us well. We could end up anywhere, and I bet the Arcav don’t even know we’ve been taken yet.