Kalen: Warlord Brides (Warriors of Sangrin Book 2) Read online

  Kalen:Warlord Brides

  Warriors of Sangrin 2

  Starr Huntress

  Nancey Cummings

  Table of 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

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty One

  Chapter Twenty Two

  Epilogue

  What’s Next

  Additional Titles

  About Nancey

  Copyright

  Welcome to the Warlord Brides Universe

  The vicious Suhlik meant to enslave Earth and rob her of her resources. Only the Mahdfel warriors could stand against them.

  Once the slaves of the Suhlik, the Mahdfel won their freedom. But a lingering reminder of their oppression at the hands of the Suhlik is the inability to have female children.

  Now, in exchange for the protection of Earth, these hunky alien warriors demand only one price: Every childless, single and otherwise healthy woman on Earth is tested for genetic compatibility for marriage with a Mahdfel warrior. If the match is 98.5% or better, the bride is instantly teleported away to her new mate.

  No exceptions.

  You do not need to have read Paax to enjoy Kalen, but here’s what happened if you’re curious.

  Warlord Omas was dangerous and out of control. The experimental treatment that saved his life also transformed his body and destroyed his mind. No warrior could best the warlord. When Omas threatened Paax’s new bride, he had to challenge his once-sane brother.

  Paax defeated his brother, not without help and not without bending some rules. Now he rebuilds the clan Omas nearly ruined and waits the birth of his first son. Wanting his human wife to receive the best care, Paax send his head medical officer to Earth for advanced training in Terran physiology.

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  Chapter One

  Meridan

  Meridan didn’t like the look on her sister Daisy’s face. She knew that look. It was an “I’m totally crushing on someone inappropriate” look.

  Daisy collapsed into the chair opposite her, clutching two morning lattes. “Did you—”

  “No,” Meridan said as she snatched her latte.

  “But he’s—”

  “No.”

  “You’re no fun.”

  “Professional. The word you’re looking for is professional.”

  Daisy rolled her eyes. “I don’t know how you work will all these hunky warriors day in and day out. It’s driving me bananas.” As she spoke, her eyes roved around the cafeteria. A mixture of Mahdfel warriors and plain old humans staffed the Shackleton Crater Lunar Base (SCLB). The majority of the overly-muscled and divinely built Mahdfel warriors were mated to human women and lived on site with their families. Warriors often met their genetically matched mate for the first time on the base. It was rare to find a single, unattached alien warrior.

  Meridan inhaled the blissful aroma of coffee. Avoiding a romantic liaison with an alien warrior was pretty darn easy when there weren’t any single men, which was fine by her. Daisy was the one with the alien warrior crush, not her. “Because I don’t date where I work. It’s messy.”

  “Come on, it’s not like the Mahdfel want to date. It’s S.E.X. or nothing.”

  “Or marriage.”

  “Yeah, well, that isn’t happening,” Daisy said, tone encroaching on bitter. “Yet.” Fourteen years ago, the Suhlik invaded Earth. It went… poorly. Human weapon technology at the time had been unable to compete against the powerful arsenal the lizard-like aliens possessed. Couldn’t even pierce Suhlik armor, actually. Hand-to-hand combat was out. The Suhlik came equipped with razor sharp claws and two rows of vicious teeth. Meridan only had foggy memories of the initial, horrific months of invasion. Her family had lived in a bombed out building that winter before finally moving to the mountains to eke out an existence in the wilderness.

  Then the Mahdfel arrived. They hadn’t seemed too concerned about humanity but they had a cultural vendetta against the Suhlik. The Suhlik had once enslaved the Mahdfel many generations ago.

  Earth’s remaining leaders had signed a treaty with the Mahdfel almost immediately. No one could be worse than the lizards, right? The Protection Treaty required all single, childless and otherwise healthy women aged twenty or older to register to be screened for genetic compatibility with a Mahdfel male. Those who were compatible were married to their match and teleported away to a new life with an alien warrior.

  It was no secret that Daisy wanted to be matched to a Mahdfel. She’d been crazy for the alien warriors since… forever. Each year when her birthday rolled around, Daisy’s excitement ramped up. She marched into the medical facility, head high, full of hope and expectations. And still another year passed with no match. Until then, she flirted wildly with the alien.

  Meridan, however, remained happily single and satisfied with her medical exemption. The Mahdfel only wanted single, childless and fertile women. Complications from a childhood injury and subsequent infection kept Meridan excluded. Her bits and bobs were too damaged. Sometimes she brooded over the day she was attacked by the Suhlik warrior and subsequently on what she would forever miss out on. The war had taken many precious things from Earth’s population. Meridan’s ability to have a child seemed small compared to all the lives that had been lost.

  Not that she regretted her defective bits and bobs or even wanted them to be fixed. Her broken parts meant an exemption from the match. It was a loophole. Her happy little loophole.

  Daisy was too young to remember the Suhlik invasion. When their father had taken them into the mountains of Pennsylvania to hide in the wilderness, it had been a game for her. Meridan had been old enough to know what was happening in the major cities; old enough to be scared. Their father had taught them survival skills: how to hunt, track, live off the land, make a fire, and how to skin and clean a kill.

  When the Mahdfel had arrived and agreed to protect Earth in exchange for brides, her father had remained skeptical and continued to hide in the mountains for another year. Eventually, they rejoined civilization but Meridan had remained skeptical.

  The Mahdfel wanted brides. Just brides? Nothing else? There had to be a catch. Fourteen years since the treaty had been signed and Meridan still waited for the catch.

  She worked side-by-side with Mahdfel warriors and physicians. She liked their bluntness and harsh honesty. They weren’t the brutal barbarians that alarmists made them out to be.

  Working side-by-side with the aliens everyday di
dn’t remove her skepticism. If anything it only caused it to deepen. The Mahdfel warriors she knew had proved themselves to be honorable. Blunt, rough around the edges, but honorable. Of course, they were also hot as hell. Every single Mahdfel man Meridan encountered was hotness personified, be they purple, green, red, with or without a tail. Tall, muscular frames, abs that went on forever and not an ounce of body fat. No species had the right to be that hot. They seemed too good to be true, so Meridan kept her distance.

  As a nurse stationed at the Shackleton Crater Lunar Base, she worked with human women who had been matched to the alien warriors. She processed them when they arrived from Earth, freshly matched and waiting to meet their new husbands. Some women burst into tears. Some pleaded and tried to bargain their way out of the match, but the treaty was absolute. You get matched and then you get teleported to your mate’s location. No exception. Some women relished the opportunity to be adored by an alien warrior. Some were resigned to their fate and meet with stoicism. Reaction varied.

  One thing was certain, Meridan was never going to be one of those women. She had her loophole and refused to close it. She was more than happy to stay single and on Earth or near-Earth.

  Yes, her situation was a little hypocritical. More than a little. Completely hypocritical. Yet she managed to sleep at night just fine.

  “So Dr. Barnes is giving a tour of the base to the hot doctor we’re not talking about,” Daisy said. “You just missed them.”

  “My disappointment is immense,” Meridan said flatly. Mahdfel medics frequently came to the base for a crash course on human biology. Some pregnant women stayed on the base for medical care but many remained with their husbands scattered throughout the galaxy. Alien doctors came and went. Meridan wasn’t one to get worked up over a handsome alien because they were all handsome. Seriously, no species should be that good looking.

  She was starting to sound like Daisy.

  “Don’t you have a birthday coming up?” Meridan asked. Absently, she rubbed the scar slashed across her chest. The dry recycled air made it itch.

  “Dork, so do you.” A handful of days separated their birthdays. Daisy frowned when she noticed Meridan scratching at her scar. “I wish you’d get that removed.”

  “My scar, my choice,” she replied quickly. It was an old argument. Daisy was too young to remember much of the Suhlik who attacked their family, killing their mother and leaving Meridan heavily scarred. She sure as hell remembered the handsome Mahdfel warrior who saved them. By rights, Meridan should be the one crazy with hero worship and crushing on the alien warriors, but she couldn't bring herself to it. After all, a literal knight in shining nano-armor saved her from a monster at a very impressionable age.

  Daisy had enough hero worship and crush for the both of them. “Maybe this year, huh?” Meridan asked.

  “Maybe.” A dreamy looked crossed Daisy’s face.

  Gross. You’d think the shine would wear off after working with the aliens day in and day out, but no. Daisy was still as infatuated as ever.

  “You coming off shift?” Meridan asked, noticing the bag in the chair next to her sister. The sisters both lived on base, enjoying the tiny apartments, canned air, and artificial lighting of the SCLB.

  Daisy nodded. “You going to initiate that hot doctor in the strange and mysterious ways of human reproduction?”

  Meridan refused to blush. Daisy was just being juvenile now. Daisy worked in combat medicine, mostly patching up the alien warriors. Meridan focused on their human wives and children. “Grow up,” she said, while her sister snickered. Honestly.

  “I think your tune will change when you meet that hot doctor we’re not talking about,” Daisy said. “Yum. Just yum. He ordered a black coffee. No cream, no sugar, no flavor.” She gave a dramatic sigh, clutching her bag and coat to her chest.

  “Must be some sort of alien,” Meridan said.

  “No, you don’t understand. It was the way he ordered. Confident. Straightforward.” Daisy sighed. “God, I hope I’m matched this year.”

  “You never know; this could be your lucky year.”

  Chapter Two

  Kalen

  Earth’s moon.

  The Terran moon base was laughably primitive. Built a decade ago with Mahdfel technology, the Terrans insisted on features that served no purpose. And they insisted on utilizing their own backwards technology.

  Terrans talked too much. They were too friendly, helpful and curious. That female in the cafeteria was enough to put him off coffee. The sooner Medic Kalen could finish this two-week training course, the sooner he could return to civilization aboard the Judgment, the battle cruiser on which he served.

  At least Terrans had coffee: bitter, hot and pungent. It was the one redeeming feature of this backwater planet. His warlord’s mate was Terran, and pregnant, which was why he sent Kalen here. On Earth’s moon, following a slightly built male, pretending to be impressed by their “moon base.” Kalen had been told Dr. Barnes served as the warlord for the medical staff. Older, slender and a head shorter than him, the elderly man was not fit to be a leader. Surely a younger, more vibrant warrior would challenge him, unless the Terrans were happy to be led by an inferior, aging warrior.

  Terrans were strange.

  It’s not like there’s a lot he could learn about humans, anyway. Compared to the complex, engineered anatomy of the Mahdfel, Terrans were laughably simple. Basic, really. Anything he needed to know, he could get out of the computer’s databanks. What was the point of having the most extensive library in the known universe if you couldn’t use it?

  Kalen had said just as much to his warlord.

  Paax had disagreed.

  Their conversation proved brief and brutal. Paax landed a swift kick to Kalen’s knee, dropping the medic. “You will have hands on experience or I will have a new medic.” Conversation over, as it should’ve been. And that’s how Kalen found himself on the lunar base, bored by the medical warlord and drinking coffee.

  At least the coffee was excellent.

  His warlord did not demand respect. You accepted his authority or he demonstrated why he was the warlord. Brutal? Yes. But effective all the same. Paax had replaced a cruel, unstable warlord, Omas. It was the treatment his clan expected.

  Kalen admired the new warlord. Since joining the clan under the Omas, Kalen had struggled for the respect of his fellow warriors. Young, very young for the head medic on a battle cruiser, and built smaller than the average warrior, they often ignored the medic. The innate heal factor in the Mahdfel genetic code made it so that most warriors could walk off an injury and heal satisfactorily with a good sleep. The warriors only came to the med bay with serious injury and every single one of them were terrible patients who had never really been ill or injured before. Barking orders and snarling at his patients was the only way to command the respect of the warriors and get them to take him seriously.

  It was a problem.

  Of course, Kalen had anticipated this problem when he’d accepted the position in the clan but he was as ambitious as he was brilliant. Being fresh out of medical training, he could expect to apprentice under an older, more experienced medic for years before gaining a prestigious position as lead medical officer for a warlord. Waiting did not suit Kalen or his ambitions.

  Warlord Omas Nawk had an opening. Kalen had ignored the fact that Omas was unstable and could not keep his medical officers alive. He would make the situation work as the youngest lead medical officer in living Mahdfel memory. And he had made it work, right up to when his warlord was challenged and defeated. The fact that Paax was sane made serving under the new warlord tolerable.

  But being sent to Earth for training? It was an insult.

  Kalen desperately wished the Terran leader would stop this pointless tour and cease his chattering. The sooner Kalen could start working with patients, even Terrans, the sooner he could get this over with and get back to his clan.

  Chapter Three

  Meridan

 
The Mahdfel and Earth Alliance began construction on the Shackleton Crater Lunar Base after the initial Suhlik invasion.

  The base perched on the edge of the Shackleton Crater at the south pole of Earth’s moon. The location afforded the base constant sunlight and a steady ambient temperature of a Siberian winter’s day. Nearby Malapert Mountain offered a perch for communications array, having a near constant line of sight with Earth.

  After a decade of constant growth and construction, the SCLB was the size of a small city. Domes encapsulated structures and open areas. In the middle of the maze of buildings and endless corridors, it was easy to forget you were on the moon. Meridan often did.

  The base’s medical facility was a cluster of buildings housed under a larger dome. Greenery filled the open space, lending a hospital campus feel, if you could ignore the Earth hanging above in the inky blackness of the sky.

  Meridan enjoyed looking up at the Earth, admiring the blue and white sphere. Well, looking down, technically, as the base was at the south pole. Maybe. She got turned around on the directions. She was a nurse, not an astrophysicist.

  Changed into her scrubs, Meridan picked up the patient schedule at the Nurse's Station.

  "Any word yet about our newest doctor?" she asked, leafing through the patient roster.

  "Are you serious?" Shelly rolled her eyes. "How can you miss him or his giant ego?"

  "So he's here and making a good first impression?"

  "Let's just say I'm glad it's a two-week rotation." Mahdfel medical staff often rotated through the facility to acquaint themselves with human biology.

  "Sounds like a real charmer."

  Shelly thumped the back of the clipboard to get Meridan's attention and pointed down the hall. She recognized the white hair of Dr. Barnes, head of medicine, walking with a large, purple male. Alien, actually. His complexion was a pleasing plum. His hair was shorn at the sides with the long dark hair on top pulled into a knot at the back. Black horns curled at either side of his handsome face. He had a strong chin and a strong nose. His lips looked extra kissable, like she should use his horns as a handle and pull him in for a smooch. More than a smooch. But her lips needed to be on his and his mouth needed to go... places.