Kissed by the Alien Mercenary

  Kissed by the Alien Mercenary

  Warriors of the Lathar

  Mina Carter

  New York Times & USA TODAY Bestselling Author

  Copyright © 2020 by Mina Carter

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Epilogue

  Also by Mina Carter

  About the Author

  1

  He’d never seen anything as beautiful as the human females.

  Saal J’Qess paused in his duties logging stats on a patient as the Lord Healer’s mate passed by with her mother, who held the baby princess in her arms. Lady Jessica offered him a small smile as she noticed him watching. He smiled back but her companion had already reclaimed her attention. They swept through the healer’s hall in a rustle of skirts, the melody of their voices and laughter a welcome balm for the warriors recovering there.

  And for Saal as he followed at a discreet distance, checking on patients as he went. While not technically part of his duties, after volunteering at the hall for months the healers trusted him, and it freed them up for healing. So it was a win-win situation. He wasn’t complaining. He had time. Without family or a unit to belong to, his recreation hours were empty, and a male could only spend so many hours training.

  Besides… his gaze followed the females as they turned into a private room… there were other advantages to being around the healer’s hall. He finished with the patient in the end bay, a warrior who’d sustained spinal injuries being kept sedated while he healed, and moved to the counter at the end to log all his results. Well, he meant to log them… instead his attention wandered to the open door.

  It was the Lady Lizzie’s room—Lady Jessica’s litaan who was ill.

  He’d seen her when she’d been brought in, pale and motionless in a stasis tube. At first he’d thought it was Jessica herself, that the purists who’d tried to kill her before had actually managed it. But the presence of the emperor’s shadow, the legendary assassin, had stopped him in his tracks. Eventually he’d gotten it out of a healer. It was Jessica’s sister and she was ill, very ill. Some type of human illness that meant she slept all the time.

  And he found her far more beautiful than the Lady Jessica, even though the two women were identical litaan. There was just something about Lizzie—a softness Jessica didn’t have. At least in his eyes, and he’d spent many hours watching her during the long night shifts.

  Making sure she was okay, he told himself firmly. Nothing more. He was a volunteer at the hall, so it was his duty to ensure all within its care were looked after. He ignored the fact that her room was the cleanest of all the ones he was assigned to and that he read to her at night when most of the healers had left for the evening—a book of children’s tales hidden in his daysack until everyone had gone. It might have just been his imagination but she seemed to rest easier when he read, none of the fractiousness she’d had in the weeks after she was first brought here.

  Despite the fact that he was often in Lady Lizzie’s room, he kept his distance when the family were there, especially when he heard Lord Healer Laarn’s voice further back in the hall. Although the two had resolved their differences, during training and with Saal’s heartfelt apology for trying to claim Laarn’s mate, he was merely a J’Qess and nowhere near on the same standing in the empire.

  Laarn nodded as he passed. The movement was curt but an acknowledgment nonetheless. Saal nodded back, trying to hide his curiosity at the tree Laarn carried. It was an Aathari, usually considered a weed and eradicated whenever it sprang up.

  “Don’t ask,” the big healer ground out, trying and failing to get the thing through the door. “Apparently it’s ‘pretty’ and they want it in there for the Lady Lizzie.”

  Saal raised an eyebrow.

  “A little help here?” Laarn grunted.

  Saal nodded, quickly taking the other side of the large tub the tree was in. Between them, the two warriors managed to struggle the recalcitrant weed into the room.

  “Oh, it’s perfect,” Jessica smiled. “Just move it over a little so Lizzie can see it from the bed.”

  Seeing the pleasure on their faces made struggling it through the door and almost getting his eye gouged out by a branch worth it. Saal grunted with effort as he and Laarn moved it into the required position. He didn’t point out that Lizzie was asleep and wouldn’t see it. In cases like this, it was whatever brought the family comfort.

  “Thank you, love,” Jessica lifted on her tiptoes to kiss her mate. Saal looked away, not wanting to intrude on their moment. Then Jessica surprised him by turning to him as well.

  “Thank you, Saal.” Then she reached up to kiss him on the cheek.

  He froze.

  Laarn froze.

  Then growled.

  Draanth. He was so dead.

  “Behave!” Jess chided to Laarn, tapping his arm warningly. “Saal is a friend. Humans show affection to their friends. It doesn’t mean I want to jump into bed with him.”

  Saal didn’t know where to look. This was obviously a long-running argument with them. He swallowed the pleasure he felt at being named her friend and bowed his head. “You’re more than welcome, my lady. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have duties to attend to…”

  He didn’t, but Laarn looked like he was about to explode or commit murder. He’d just as soon not be around for either.

  “Please, if you have time…” Jessica stopped him with a hand on his arm, garnering another warning look and grumble from Laarn. “If there are any of those lights to spare. You know the ones… I’ve seen you tape them on the floor for the temporary bays? If you can find any for the tree, I’d be really grateful. Lizzie had a tree like this at home in the garden and put fairy lights in it.”

  He inclined his head. There were some in the stores he could… liberate. Especially if it gave him an excuse to be in here more. “Of course, my lady. I’ll see what I can do.”

  As he left the room, he couldn’t help overhearing Jess’ soft murmur to her mate. “It’s perfect… if only Lizzie would finally wake up and see it.”

  Saal’s heart ached for her, for the love she felt for her sister as Laarn’s voice followed Saal out of the room. “We’re doing the best we can, my love. I promise.”

  “I know…” Jess sighed in frustration. “Perhaps it’s not medicine. Perhaps we just need a prince to kiss her and wake her up.”

  * * *

  Later that evening Saal went back to Lizzie’s room to clean as he normally did. He cleaned all the private rooms, leaving the human female’s until the very last, at the end of his shift. And, even he couldn’t deny, he gave it far more care and attention than all the others.

  The Aathari tree stood in the corner, lights festooning its branches. He’d dropped them off earlier and could now see them wrapped around the tree. He had to admit it looked pretty. It was evidence of a family’s love for each other, that they were trying to recreate something Lizzie loved even though she wasn’t aware of it.

  His heart gave a small pang. He’d never had that. The last of his line, he’d been orphaned before he could walk and brought up in the care of the empire. The youngling home hadn’t been a place big on expressions of affection, or even home comfo
rts, and he’d left as soon as he was physically mature enough to fight. He’d been forced to grow up fast in order to make his own way in the world. He barely remembered his parents. They were just impressions at the back of his mind—a big, loud warrior and the delicate scent of his mother’s perfume, her tinkling laughter. Nothing more, and even those he couldn’t be sure were more than figments of his own imagination.

  He finished up his cleaning, careful not to disturb anything around the tree. Standing, he moved over to double check Lizzie’s stats. At least, that had been what he’d meant to do. Instead, he found himself caught by the beauty of the female on the bed. She took his breath away. Like Jess, she was small and delicate, the figure under the light sheets one he tried hard not to let his male instincts dwell on, especially while she was asleep. It seemed… wrong somehow, to lust after a female who wasn’t conscious.

  She was beautiful though, even in sleep. Her dark hair spread over her shoulders like a cape, highlighting the flawless ivory of her skin. She had blue eyes, deep and mysterious. She’d opened them a few times when he was here, but he knew she didn’t really see him. She often opened her eyes and could be prompted to sit at the window, shower, and other necessary ablutions. When he’d first seen it, he’d been convinced she was a hairbreadth from waking fully, but she always dropped back into unconsciousness. The nights he’d sat in here, reading to her, were some of his favorite and most treasured memories.

  Taking the book from his bag, he paused for a moment, remembering something Jessica had said. Leaning over the sleeping woman, he pressed a gentle kiss to her forehead.

  “Wake up, my lady. Your family misses you,” he whispered and drew back.

  To find her eyes open. His heart leaped but then he recognized the out-of-focus look. She wasn’t really awake. His physical nearness, the kiss, had roused her to the half-state again.

  “It’s okay, kelarris,” he reassured her and, indulging the tiny temptation, he reached up to smooth a stray lock of hair away from her face. The small contact forced him to stifle a groan. Her skin was so soft… the softest thing he’d ever felt.

  “Go to sleep,” he murmured, forcing himself to take a step back and sit down next to her, opening his book. “I’ll just continue our story.”

  As her eyes fluttered shut again, Saal started to read, picking up the tale of Iaanis the Brave, the first warrior of the Lathar.

  * * *

  “That’s the fifth ace you’ve pulled since we started.”

  Lizzie was so not a morning person. She never had been.

  But she was a nap person, or she certainly had been the last couple of years. She put that down to taking her PhD in Xenobiology. She’d known when she started that it was going to be a tough course, but hell… it was rough. Studying so much and working as well, she’d had to get used to napping when she could. Which explained why she was waking up to the sound of her mom and sister bickering. Again.

  “Is not. I’ve put two down. Are you sure you’re remembering right, Mom? Age, you know… memory is often the first to go.”

  “You cheeky little cow… I can remember things perfectly well thank you very much!”

  She smiled to herself as she snuggled down deeper into the embrace of the duvet. Jess must be back home on leave. Odd. The last thing she remembered clearly was the end of term exams coming up to Easter break and Jess wasn’t supposed to be home for… months. But she’d always taken a while to wake up and come to full consciousness, so not remembering didn’t worry her too much.

  “What? You totally forgot your coffee the other day! Don’t think I didn’t see you pouring it away because it was cold. After I slaved over a hot kettle making it for you as well!”

  The argument was going on around her, so she must have fallen asleep on the sofa again. Not an uncommon occurrence. For saying she and Jess were twins and looked identical, they couldn’t have been more different in terms of personality and mannerisms. Jess was all fire and get up and go, whereas Lizzie was more observation and subtle snark. And recently, any get up and go she’d possessed had definitely gotten up and left.

  “Ha! You? Make coffee? Yeah, right. You just ring a bell and you know it!”

  She sighed, turning over and pulling the blanket up. “Would you two keep it down over there? People trying to get some rest over here.”

  There was silence. Then the scrambling of feet.

  “Oh my god! Lizzie, are you awake?” That was Jess, her voice sharp.

  “Baby?” Mom’s voice was softer, gentle brushes on Lizzie’s cheeks. “Baby, please look at me.”

  She opened her eyes to find her mom and Jess crowded around her, their expressions twisted with hope and concern. She blinked. Her eyes felt full of crud, like she’d been asleep for a hundred years. Then she managed to focus and blinked again.

  “Did you decide the dress code was formal today?” she asked, looking at the pretty dresses they both wore. They looked like silk, but the design was odd. She’d never seen anything like them, not in all the history books she’d ever read. Must be a new film out or something.

  She tried to struggle to a sitting position, which was when she realized she wasn’t at home. “Oh… shit.”

  Eyes wide, she studied the room. It was fairly normal, with pale walls and a polished wooden floor. The soft bedding was in direct contrast with the complicated-looking medical equipment sitting by the side of the bed, a clue this was a hospital room. But it was the swankiest, most luxurious hospital room she’d ever seen. Why was she in the hospital? What had happened?

  Her gaze swept past the tree in the corner of the room, stopped abruptly, and returned to it. Hardly able to believe what she was seeing, she slid out of bed and padded toward it. She barely noticed Jess and her mom hovering at her sides, like a toddler they expected to fall over at any moment. All she was concentrating on was the leaves on the tree.

  “You’ve been asleep for months…” Jess whispered, her voice thick with emotion.

  “Yes, I know. The last thing I remember is Easter break. Figured I’d lost some time.”

  She knew something had gone wrong somewhere, and the fog in her memories was concealing it, but all she could see was the tree in front of her.

  Tentatively, she reached out a hand to stroke its leaves gently. It looked like a fir, but it wasn’t. Instead of the straight needles she’d expected, the branch was one entity, splitting down into side branches. But they weren’t actual branches. They were part of the main section. It had what looked like internodes as she’d expect in an evergreen with tiny nodules that looked like buds. The problem was, they were all crystalline in structure, like green snowflakes stuck together.

  She looked at Jess. “Okay… Where are we? Because we’re sure as hell not on Earth anymore.”

  Jess shot Mom a triumphant look. “I told you she’d figure it out. You owe me ten dollars.”

  “Yeah, yeah… I’ll get it for you when Fenriis takes me back to Earth for a visit… like next decade?” Mom snorted and then smiled at Lizzie, leading her from the alien tree. “Come and sit down, baby. We have a lot to tell you.”

  Lizzie frowned as she allowed herself to be led. The initial flood of adrenaline when she’d spotted the tree had leached away, leaving her feeling dizzy and like her legs wouldn’t hold her up. She made it to the bed, her family sitting on either side of her.

  “Right,” she told them. “Spill.”

  “Well…” Her mom started slowly. “You remember how Jess was—”

  “Captured by aliens.” Lizzie frowned as the memory came back through the fog. Although Easter break was the last thing she remembered for sure, her memories before that were a little fuzzy too. There were large blank areas that responded like cotton wool when she poked at them mentally. She looked at her sister.

  “You were captured by aliens, that much I remember, and if we’re not on Earth anymore…”

  Her gaze dropped to their dresses. The odd design would make sense if they weren’t e
ven human fashion.

  “The aliens are called the Lathar,” Jess said quietly. “They’re a warrior-based society and have no women.”

  Lizzie’s eyebrow winged up. “So they steal other people’s. They sound like assholes.”

  She remembered her mom’s panic and tears when the news came that Jess had been taken. They’d always known that service in the TDF was dangerous. Space was a perilous place. But there was a distinct difference between “hit by an asteroid” and “kidnapped by little green men.”

  Jess’ expression set for a moment, darkness in her eyes as she pressed a hand to her stomach. “Well… some can be. But we’re exactly the same. Some humans are right dicks. And really? The Lathar aren’t all that bad.” A dreamy smile crossed her face. “Some are very… nice.”

  Lizzie gasped, picking up on her twin’s emotions. “Oh. My. God. You fell for one of them. Didn’t you?”

  Jess grinned. “Not just me.”

  Lizzie’s gaze slid sideways. A flush rode high on her mom’s cheekbones.

  “Mom!” she hissed, scandalized. “You didn’t?”

  “In my defense, I only said yes at first because Fenriis promised to get me to you two.”

  That news stopped Lizzie in her tracks. She felt off kilter, and not just because she’d been ripped away from everything she knew and thrust into what was turning out to be a strange new world. That was traumatic for any homebody. Even college had taken her some time to adapt to, and that was one on Earth. She’d immediately discounted anything off-world. Now? She felt like her entire existence had been tipped upside down and shaken about. And like something was missing…

  “I’m sorry, Fenriis? Who is that when he’s at home? Us two? And was there a man in here talking to me?” She shot rapid-fire questions at them, a frown on her face.