Wrong Place, Right Mate (Celestial Mates) Read online

  The small human appeared to be on the verge of hyperventilating, and he approached her slowly. A fierce frown flashed across his features, and she let out a little whimper as she tried to scoot away from him. “Cease your movement, human. Tell me immediately what troubles you.” He was being brusque, but he didn’t have time to baby her. He wasn’t certain what had bothered the little woman, but he had a mission on which he must focus. For the first time ever, he was tempted to turn his back on the mission waiting for him and focus on the female before him.

  “I’m troubled by the fact that…” She paused, panting several times. “Well, you’re an alien. I mean, we expected to find them, I guess, at least in an offhand and kind of vague way, but I didn’t expect to find one. I didn’t expect to be the first, I mean. You’re an alien,” she finished on a high-pitched note.

  He gave her a look of amusement. “And you too are an alien, little human, but you see I’m not panicking. You have nothing to be afraid of, and I won’t harm you. I simply need to know if you’ve seen Aladrina.”

  After a moment, she seemed to believe him, and her breathing quieted slightly. “I don’t know what an Aladrina is.”

  “A Sibian crime lord.” With the tip of his finger on the pad on his wrist, he brought up a picture of Aladrina. It was a projected and three-dimensional image that was at least three meters high.

  The human grimaced. “She’s pretty ugly, isn’t she?” A moment later, she clapped her hand over her face, unable to make contact with her mouth because of the thin membrane separating her skin. “That was incredibly rude, and I shouldn’t pass judgment on her features. I just didn’t expect her to look so… alien,” she finally whispered.

  He shrugged. “That’s what makes them alien, I suppose.”

  She frowned. “But you look a lot like a human male. I mean, kind of. You have the same basic build, though your skin’s golden, and your hair looks different. I mean it’s white-blonde, but the texture looks clearly different. I’d like to touch it.”

  He laughed when her cheeks bloomed with color. “Perhaps there’ll be time for that later, little human, but I must go.”

  “Wait.” She seemed to gather her courage as she scrambled up from her perch on the rocky ground. “You can’t just leave me here. I mean, I don’t know anything about the planet, and if you’re hunting someone who’s a crime lord, I can’t just stay here.”

  He arched a brow. “Are you suggesting you should come with me, human?”

  She glared at him. “I have a name, and yes, that’s what I’m suggesting. It would be fascinating for me, and far safer. I should really report all this. After all, you’re the first alien we’ve seen.”

  He looked around. “Is there more than one of you on the mission?” He ventured a guess that was why she was here, based on her equipment and suit, coupled with the short-range shuttle. She likely had a larger craft somewhere with which she could dock.

  She shook her head. “I meant humanity. We’ve never run across an alien before. I’m making first contact.”

  “That’s not entirely true. According to my databanks, there was a human female on Karadis more than two hundred years ago. She was the bond-mate of the High Prince, and she would have been the queen if she hadn’t been human. That must be somewhere in your history?”

  She shook her head, looking fascinated. “No, it’s not written anywhere. I wonder how the human woman from two hundred years ago ended up on your planet? We were nowhere near space travel at that time. They hadn’t even made it to Mars then.”

  He had no idea what Mars was, but it seemed like a milestone to her, so he simply shrugged. “You have a name, you said.” When she nodded, but showed no signs of giving it, he let out a sigh. “What is it?”

  “Oh,” she yelped. “I’m Dr. Ellie Wright.”

  “Then come along, Dr. Ellie Wright, because I have an important mission, and you’ve wasted too much of my time as it is.” It was an unnecessarily nasty thing to say, and he wasn’t entirely certain what had provoked it other than the fact that he hadn’t liked the way she had reached out to put her hand on his arm when she reached his side. No, that wasn’t true at all. He had liked it too much, finding it an unwelcome distraction from the mission at hand.

  “Just Ellie,” she said in a slightly subdued voice. “And you’re Zyanlanpar?” She pronounced it as all one word.

  “Zyan will do.”

  She didn’t speak again for several minutes as she fell into step with him, though she was clearly struggling to keep up with the pace he set over the rough terrain. He wanted to be nice and offer to slow down, but he didn’t have the luxury. Besides, Zyan was many things, but nice wasn’t among them. If this little human planned to be his shadow, she would learn that soon enough.

  Chapter Three

  Ellie followed behind the gorgeous golden alien, finding herself unable to look away from the slight undulation of his scales. They were shimmery and faint, and seemed to move with their own hypnotic draw independently of Zyan’s movements. His thick mane of silvery blonde hair was equally entrancing, and she was startled to realize she was thinking inappropriate thoughts about the alien.

  She really should be ashamed of herself. Here she was, the first human to make contact with an alien—except for the human he claimed had been a ruler on his planet— and she was thinking about all the physical things she’d like to do with him, rather than focusing on the cerebral issues at hand. As a scientist, she should be exploiting the opportunity to learn everything she could about him, rather than imagining what he looked like without the mesh body armor that conformed so lovingly to his muscular frame.

  It was a new experience for Ellie to find her body overriding her brain. She usually received the same intense kind of thrill from trying to solve a problem, or learning about something new from one of her books. That he could induce the same sense of excitement was strange, but not entirely unpleasant.

  Who was she kidding? It wasn’t unpleasant at all to find the alien attractive, though she was certain none of her colleagues would have had the same reaction. Of course, most of them were men or attached females. Even in a relationship, she imagined one would have to be dead not to notice how handsome the alien was.

  She was so busy focusing on his body and her reaction to it that she wasn’t paying enough attention to her feet. She was already rushing to keep up with him, so when she tripped over an outcropping of the jagged rocks, she went flying. The gravity on the planet was a little less than she was used to on the Hub or her shuttle, and certainly less than Earth, so that, combined with her speed, explained way she virtually threw herself at Zyan.

  He’d been walking slightly ahead of her, but some sense of his must have warned him to turn at the last moment, and he caught her in his arms with barely a stumble in his step. He grunted under the impact, as did she, but he seemed uninjured.

  She was too, though her head was suddenly spinning to feel his arms around her, and she realized his mouth was so close to hers. Heat suffused her cheeks, but she tried to hide her embarrassment. “I’m sorry. I tripped.”

  He flashed a grin. “I’m happy to hold you and keep you from falling, Ellie.”

  Those same effervescent bubbles of excitement fizzed in her bloodstream, and she embraced her inner flirt. Since she had limited contact with that side of herself, it was a new experience. “I’m sure women must throw themselves at you all the time.”

  He didn’t deny it, and his expression took on a hint of cockiness. “They aren’t always as beautiful as you, little human.”

  “I’m not exactly little, at least for human. I’m above-average height. Of course, you’re very tall. And golden, with shimmery scales. And your eyes…” She trailed off, startled by the beauty of his pale green eyes. They were like ice tinted with malachite and fringed by thick silver lashes. “Are all the Karadisians as handsome as you?”

  His lips twitched. “Of course not. I’m the finest specimen of my race.” He winked at her.r />
  She giggled, an honest-to-goodness giggle, which turned to a titter in her nervousness. She sounded like an idiot, but it took a moment to rein in her laughter, which was out of proportion to his joke. She was definitely nervous. As a scientist, she knew myriad chemical reactions were responsible for her response to the alien, and they were what was making her act so awkward and feel so giddy, but the woman inside was too busy reveling in his arms around her to pay much attention to the scientific explanation behind attraction.

  With what seemed like a regretful sigh, he carefully eased her away and put her on her feet, his hands on her hips until she was steady. Even through her E-suit, she could feel the warmth of his hands. That caught a bit of academic interest, nudging aside her atypical reactions up to this point. “How can you be so warm without even wearing a protective suit?” She tilted her head slightly, examining him. “For that matter, how are you breathing in the atmosphere? There’s oxygen present, but not enough to sustain life—well, at least human life. What does your species breathe?”

  He seemed faintly amused. “We breathe nitrogen and oxygen, though in different proportions to you, I’d guess. However, I am wearing a suit, at least of a sort. My wristband,” He lifted his hand to show her, “Emits a force field around me, which also filters out any toxic gases and regulates my ambient temperature. I suspect it’s similar to the primitive device you’re wearing, though more elegant, with a more discreet design.”

  She was fascinated, not even realizing they had started walking again until she almost tripped a second time. She barely noticed when he steadied her that time, already used to having him around. When he clamped his hand around her wrist in a gentle parody of a manacle, she simply gave him a smile of thanks as she peppered him with more questions.

  By the time they had traversed three klicks, according to the navigation system in her E-suit, she was starting to get at least a basic grasp of life on Karadis. “So it’s a matriarchy?” At his nod, she asked, “And if there isn’t a female to inherit?”

  “The male heir is the High Prince. We have no king, but it’s basically the same status as a queen if there is no queen.”

  “If the queen gets married, and I assume she will or must, is there a king then?”

  He shook his head. “Only the High Prince Consort. The queen still holds the power.”

  She eyed his tall frame speculatively. “You don’t have trouble taking orders from a woman?”

  He seemed surprised by the question. “Why would I? She’s the queen.”

  “In some cultures, one gender has a difficult time yielding power to the other.”

  He shrugged. “It’s part of a hierarchy, and we all follow it. I see no reason to reject someone’s spot above me in that hierarchy simply because they have a different gender from me.”

  “Sexy and enlightened,” she said without allowing her brain to filter the words spilling from her mouth. “I like you, Zyan Lan Par. I might keep you.”

  The look he shot her was scorching in its intensity. “I might allow you to keep me, little human.”

  She was suddenly feeling warm, and it had nothing to do with malfunctioning controls in her E-suit. It was all about the man standing before her. Alien, she reminded herself, as though it made a difference. It didn’t matter at all. In that moment, they were just a man and a woman, not a Karadisian and a human, or a bounty hunter and an exo-geologist. No wonder it was getting hot in her suit.

  She wasn’t certain what, if anything, would have happened if his wristband hadn’t admitted a shrill pitch. He looked down at it with a frown of concentration, and all hint of flirtation disappeared from his serious gaze. “It found her.”

  “Maybe you should tell me something about her, since we’re tracking this Aladrina?” That would have been a smart thing to ask long before now, if she hadn’t been so immersed in attraction.

  “She’s a Sibian.”

  “And that means?”

  “That’s her species. She has the ability to camouflage herself, though her true form is actually slightly amorphous. She can change her shape to a certain extent, and as a whole, her species lacks empathy.”

  She made a small sound of comprehension in the back of her throat. “A planet of sociopaths.”

  He hesitated for a second, as though waiting for his translation program to explain her word. After a moment, he nodded. “That’s a close enough description. The Sibians will sell their own mothers to get ahead, and it wouldn’t surprise me to find out Aladrina has. She’s wanted for multiple crimes, but the worst among them is trafficking aliens. She sells them into slavery with no concern of their fate. She has no regard for what she considers commodities, and she’ll sell aliens of any age or physical state if the price is enough.”

  She grimaced in distaste. “That’s appalling. We used to have a problem with that on Earth, though it’s unheard of these days.” At least officially. It could be there were still slave rings operating on Earth and its colonies, but she’d certainly never heard of them if there were.

  He looked grim. “What’s most appalling is her casual disregard for life. Her most heinous crime happened when she was being pursued by Interstellar Alliance agents. In an attempt to remove the evidence, while securing her escape, she flew away in her own private shuttle and destroyed the transport ship housing thirteen thousand slaves, along with an additional two thousand Sibians, who worked in maintenance and systems support.”

  Ellie shuddered, unable to imagine one person, or alien as the case may be, holding the responsibility for fifteen thousand lives and destroying them. “Are you here to arrest her for that?”

  He shook his head. “I’m here to take her to execution. She escaped along the way.”

  Ellie was briefly startled by that. “Execution? That seems like such a primitive response. The death penalty has been stamped out on my planet for at least a hundred years.”

  He shrugged. “Some people are beyond rehabilitation. The Interstellar Alliance would consider it cowardly not to deal with a threat like Aladrina in the most efficient manner possible.”

  Ellie had no counterargument to that. What could she say in response? Aladrina was responsible for the death of at least fifteen thousand beings, and likely far more, so a life in prison seemed like a paltry punishment for her actions.

  She was simply surprised to find aliens weren’t as enlightened as years of science fiction and speculation had led her to expect. Or maybe they were the enlightened ones, and humans were the ones fooling themselves into thinking there was never a justification for the death penalty. The topic was too heavy for her to focus on as she followed him into the cave system they had just approached.

  The geologist in her was excited by the surroundings, and she lagged behind him to collect samples. The rock shone with veins of some luminescent material. She set down her toolkit to pull out a collection kit, eager to examine the material back in her lab.

  She was so engrossed in her work that she almost forgot about Zyan for a minute. When he put his hand on her shoulder, she jumped and let out a small yelp of surprise that she quickly cut off. He was hunting the Sibian crime lord, and she needed to be quiet.

  “Stay here, and don’t make a sound. I’m going deeper into the caves to find her, and it isn’t safe for you to accompany me.”

  She nodded her understanding. “I have plenty to keep me occupied here.” An intense rush of excitement at the prospect of identifying the composition of the alien caves swept through her. It wasn’t quite the same heady rush of sensations she’d received while held in Zyan’s arms, but it was still enough to distract her from his mission as she focused on her own.

  She was a little nervous as he slipped out of sight, which wasn’t simply a fear-based response. She was on a strange planet, with a crippled ship, and accompanying an alien bounty hunter pursuing a mass murderer. There were plenty of reasons to be apprehensive, and she kept alert even as she immersed herself in collecting samples from the walls and flo
or of the caves.

  It took a moment to realize she was no longer probing the cave wall when her sensor encountered a squishy substance. With a small sound of surprise, she reached for a new kit, intent on collecting a scraping of the jelly substance. Instead, she let out a small cry of surprise that turned to a shout of alarm as features coalesced in the rock face. At first, the thing before her blended in perfectly with the rocky textures around her, but slowly, a new form oozed forth.

  Oozed was the best word she could think of, and she intuited this must be the amorphous alien Zyan was tracking. She opened her mouth to scream again, though she could hear his boots pounding as he ran back in her direction. Before she could get out another sound, a sharp pain in her stomach had her looking down.

  Ellie let out a gasp of horror, unable to muster more of a sound than that. A large stinger had penetrated her stomach, lodged roughly in her diaphragm. She started to shake, both from the pain and from a burning sensation that spread outward from the wound. In shock, she met the gaze of the alien, whose eyes were now distinct from the cave around her. Aladrina had no eyelashes, and her lids were semitransparent. It was disquieting, but turned to outright terrifying when the blob before her started to melt into a purple mass of fire. It seemed to consume her, and she lurched back, dropping to the floor of the cave as convulsions overtook her.

  Hands were on her, and she struggled and tried to fight them away. Pain scorched her nerve endings, and her stomach burned like fire. Opening her eyes wide, she saw the melted form of Zyan above her. He looked like an abstract painting, configured into a hideous conglomeration meant to terrify.

  “What did she do to you?” she screamed, though no sound emerged due to her injured diaphragm. A sharp dart of grief pierced her at the thought of losing the alien, though she barely knew him. It was an irrational response, and she was aware enough to realize that, though not quite aware enough to process what he was telling her, at least the first few times he repeated it.