Snowed in With the Alien Warlord Read online

  Snowed in with the Alien Warlord

  Warlord Brides Index

  Starr Huntress

  Nancey Cummings

  You can’t trust an alien.

  Penny is having the worst year. First the pretty lizard aliens show up and start murdering people. Then the “good aliens” arrive and claim they’ll defend Earth and save humanity… for a price. She knows a protection racket when she sees one. And the price? Married to an alien? No thank you.

  Kol has one mission: destroy the Suhlik. He’s not interested in this new planet, Earth, or the strange soft-skinned inhabitants. On a scouting mission, he catches the luscious scent of his mate and must find her in the rubble of a ruined city and bring her to the safe zone.

  When Kol is wounded protecting Penny, she just can’t leave him in the middle of a blizzard to freeze. She might not trust him but she’s not going to let him die.

  When Kol is wounded protecting Penny, she just can’t leave him to freeze to death in a blizzard. Besides, no one is asking her to marry him, just keep him from becoming a popsicle. She doesn’t trust him and all this talking about being his mate could be hyperthermia. So why does she feel like this alien is getting warmer and closer to the truth the more time they spend together?

  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

  Epilogue

  Also Available

  About the Author

  Copyright

  Chapter One

  Earth, during the Suhlik Invasion

  Penny

  It was the best of times; it was the worst of times. Correction, the times sucked. It was hard for Penny to imagine anything worse, what with the real-life alien invasion and all.

  The Suhlik came and life just stopped. Not literally. Well, literally for the unlucky. Or maybe they were the lucky ones, not scrambling every day to find food, water and shelter. The point was Penny found it impossible to think beyond the now, beyond her body’s immediate need for food, water and shelter. The future? Didn’t matter if she froze to death over the winter, and freezing was a very real possibility.

  Penny shifted into position on her belly, using an old pair of binoculars she’d bought for the opera—a lifetime ago—to scout out the river. The university campus lay on the other side of the river, along with the community shelters and medical supplies, food, heat and every creature comfort she lacked on her side of the river. Except the opera. The university students probably were not performing Madame Butterfly between bombings. The Mikado, sure; college kids were wacky like that…

  She could have been warm and snuggly right now if she lived on campus, but her aunt lived on the north side of town—on the wrong side of the river—and steadfastly refused any attempt Penny made at paying rent. Had refused. Penny hadn’t seen her aunt since the invasion started. Her aunt had gone to work that day in the city and just hadn’t come home.

  She could be alive, Penny told herself. The day the bombs started, people were told to shelter in place. Her aunt might still be at the office, worrying about Penny.

  Each day played out the same: find food, find clean water, and hide. She had shelter all sorted out. Her aunt’s house had taken an indirect hit. The roof caved in and the good chunk of the back of the house was just gone, but the floor was sound and there was nothing wrong with the basement. It stayed dry and warm enough, considering. The bombed out appearance kept away looters and other undesirables, like those lizard-looking alien assholes.

  Penny raised the binoculars and made herself focus on the bridge. There was only one across the river and the aliens kept it heavily patrolled. Currently a big red alien marched down the length, like he was looking for something. Someone.

  A curious shiver went down her spine. Just the wind. She pulled the hood over her head.

  Penny could go around, but with farmland to the west and to east it would be a long, hard walk in the cold to get to the next nearest bridge in the town twelve miles over. If it still stood. The interstate had once crossed the river, but that was long gone. If she could find a boat, she could cross in the night, but the folks who lived on the north side of town weren’t the kind to keep boats. She could always swim. The Kaw’s flow wasn’t as high as during the summer but she could cross at a narrow point. If she moved fast, hypothermia might not kill her. Or she could just wait for the river to ice over and then walk. No good options, basically. The smart thing to do was hunker down and wait.

  Her gaze drifted down to the hydroelectric dam. A relic from the last century, the small structure under the Sixth Street bridge was the only thing generating power. The city grid hadn’t been operational in a while, but Penny could sneak into the powerhouse at the foot of the bridge and recharge the portable power packs she scavenged.

  It sounded far riskier than it was. The Suhlik had their own power source. Penny had no idea what—malevolence, probably—but they didn’t seem to know about or be too concerned with the little hydro dam, which meant an opportunity for her to recharge power packs, and a few more days of running her space heater and hot plate.

  The sky hung heavy: leaden and promising snow. It was cold enough for snow, too, which was better than ice, in her opinion. Of course, with snow, she’d have to worry about leaving tracks, but with ice she could fall and seriously hurt herself. With the only medical care on the other side of the river, Penny couldn’t afford to twist, sprain or break anything. Hell, she couldn’t even afford the sniffles. She had a stockpile of aspirins, antibiotics, bandages and such she’d pilfered from a local pharmacy. She might be able to treat a fever or an infection, but the reports on the radio spoke about “spore viruses” and gas attacks. If she ever encountered anything like that, she was toast.

  Mmm, toast. Her stomach rumbled with a craving for warm buttery toast and strawberry jam. Her scavenging took her into grocery stores and any place that might have canned goods. The invasion had happened so fast, there wasn’t time for regular folk to panic and clean out the shops, which proved helpful for her. Some items spoiled immediately when the power went out, like all the frozen stuff and meat. Produce lasted a while. Potatoes, onions and apples were still good if they were in a cool, dark place. She hadn’t seen non-moldy or mouse-chewed bread in weeks.

  Penny shook herself out of her funk. Now wasn’t the time to get all teary-eyed about bread. There would be bread again. Wheat would always grow, alien invasion or not, and people would make bread.

  She checked the sky again. No sun, just ominous clouds. It was going to snow, a lot, and soon. She’d rather do this in bright daylight. For all their weapon superiority, the Suhlik didn’t see well in bright sunlight, Penny noticed, and they didn’t see into shadows too well. They had these weird lizard eyes with two lids. The inner lid was lowered on bright days, giving their eyes a flat, empty stare—not that their fully unveiled black eyes were comforting or anything, just less flat and empty.

  Her attention drifted back to the bridge. The muscle-bound red alien still prowled the bridge. He wasn’t a Suhlik, Penny knew that much. He was the other kind—the kind the reports on the radio claimed were Earth’s allies and would fight the Suhlik.

  For a price.

  The reports on the exact details of the Earth-Mad Fell treaty were sketchy, which t
old Penny it had to be bad. If it was like trade—chocolate and coffee for weapons—that’d be front page news. You know, if there were newspapers. The fact that it was secret meant it was bad. In the movies, aliens always wanted Earth’s “resources”, like Earth had anything that couldn’t be mined on an empty asteroid, far away from bothersome humans.

  No, anything an alien wanted from Earth they could get easier in space. The only unique thing that Earth had was people. Lots of people. If someone told her the Suhlik ate babies and skinned humans to make fancy shoes and matching handbags, she’d believe it. Those lizards were sinister. But if someone said they were gathering up humans to make slaves, she’d call shenanigans. The Suhlik killed indiscriminately. If they were farming humans to sell off as slaves, they wouldn’t kill half their product. No, they just liked terror and the mayhem of random destruction. They killed for the fucking joy of it.

  Monsters.

  And the new ones? The so called “good guys”? She wasn’t about to trust them because they hadn’t immediately torn out the president’s heart on national television. Not murdering a world leader did not make you a good guy.

  The radio programs couldn’t get enough of the Mad Fell aliens. Mad Fell. What kind of name was that? The solar-powered radio filled the silence and listening to the emergency broadcasts was, hands down, better than listening to the wind and the rain. She missed the music programs and the light-hearted chit chat, but she’d keep listening to the emergency program because any human voice was better than nothing.

  She refocused the binoculars, studying the red alien.

  Did they all look like the one on the bridge? The mottled grey armor did not act as camouflage at all. Nothing like him could ever blend in on Earth. He was a big SOB, that was for sure, and built like a linebacker. Probably had more muscle than sense. And his skin…

  Her mother always preached about judging someone on the basis of their character and actions, not the color of their skin, but he was red. Red.

  The alien turned and movement at his knees caught her eyes. The binoculars shifted down, focusing on a slender red tail with a spiky barb at the end. A freaking tail. All he needed was a pair of horns and he’d be a classic demon.

  Yeah, she wasn’t going to trust a demon, no matter what the radio said.

  The cold seeped through her jeans and tights. Her nose was numb and her fingers were losing sensation. It was time to move, red alien on the bridge or no red alien. The radio said a blizzard was coming. She needed to get the portable power pack charged or she’d be snowed in with no heat for days. Not an option.

  “Now or never, Novak,” she whispered to herself, failing to inspire.

  Kol

  The female was near.

  Kol stalked the length of the bridge. Her scent lingered but the cold dulled his senses. He had tracked her for days, finding nothing but a dropped glove. Once she’d discarded a bulky coat caught on chain link fencing, sacrificed to make a quick escape through a small opening under the fence. The coat was soaked in the unpleasant smells of Earth— smoke, motor oil, and stagnant water—but underneath that was his female, crisp and sweet, like desert flowers blooming after the rain.

  He took that torn and filthy coat back with him to base camp and stuffed it into the bottom of his pack. During the long, cold Earth nights, he would take it out to remind himself of why he came to this miserable planet.

  His mate was here. Somewhere.

  Not just somewhere. She was in the unsecure zone, and not with the other Terrans in protected encampments. She was alone and vulnerable. Surviving, yes, but that would change the moment a Suhlik patrol caught sight of her. Or caught her scent. Or heard her. There were too many ways for her to be discovered by the enemy. How she had escaped detection this long was a marvel.

  He must find her before the Suhlik.

  A gust of wind drove the freezing air down the gap in his armor at his neck, chilling his entire body. This wretched planet: a frozen, unforgiving ball of ice with its tilted axis and wobble in rotation.

  What planet wobbled?

  Kol growled in frustration. He could run extended distances in extreme heat for days with little more than a gulp of water and a mouthful of food. Created for arid, dry environments, he craved the heat. He also craved a bottle of strong Rolusian wine to drive away the chill settled deep in his bones.

  There were plenty of other battlefronts a Mahdfel such as he could have been sent—fronts that required a warrior who could survive an extreme and punishing environment. His father’s people, the Mahdfel, had once been enslaved and genetically altered by the Suhlik to be superior soldiers, giving them increased strength, heightened senses and accelerated healing. His mother’s people of Rolusdreus had manipulated their own genes to survive the ruined deserts of their planet. The end resulted in Kol being highly specialized for a very specific environment.

  He was wasted here on Earth.

  He could ask for a transfer, but he would be rightly derided and mocked for fleeing a just battle because he was uncomfortable. He could wait for the opportunity to transfer to a location better suited for his skills. Other warriors would view that action as ambitious, honorable even, but he could not tolerate the idea of it. He could allow himself to be injured. It would not be hard. The Mahdfel had a natural ability to heal most wounds and resist illness. The cold hampered this, as it hampered his senses and reaction time. He would be injured in battle, that was inevitable. There would be no honor lost in seeking a placement better suited for a warrior with his abilities once he was injured. That route was as unappealing as the other options.

  Could he leave Earth without his mate? The Terrans signed a treaty with his people. All females of age who were healthy, childless, and otherwise single were to be tested for genetic compatibility with Mahdfel warriors. Those who tested at 98.5% were required by treaty to surrender and mate.

  No, the Terrans used another word. Marriage. The Terran authorities insisted marriage was the fate they sent their females to.

  It did not matter. He could not leave Earth without his mate. He’d detected her scent in his first days on the planet. Before the genetic testing, the Mahdfel warriors used to hunt their females by scent. That system had not been perfect. Too often females were not compatible enough and their health suffered during pregnancy. The testing ensured that the females had a better chance of survival.

  The logical part of Kol understood the superiority of the genetic test but the feral part of him yearned for the old ways. Hunting for his mate seemed thrilling, although currently it proved more frustrating than exciting.

  His mate was out there, in the rubble of the ruined Terran city, with Suhlik and looters and disease as companions. She lacked heat, food, adequate shelter and clean water. Only one bridge stood to allow her access to the Terran encampments in the secured zone, where she could find those things necessary for her survival. The Terran authorities broadcasted on their primitive radios the news of the Earth-Mahdfel treaty and informed their citizens that the Mahdfel were allies, not the enemy.

  He would find his mate and bring her to the secured zone. He would claim her and she would give him a strong son. Many strong sons.

  Initially, Kol doubted the compatibility of Terrans with the Mahdfel. As a whole, they appeared inferior by every measure. True, the Terrans he’d encountered had been weakened by lack of food and by disease, but even in the best of situations, they were soft skinned and their senses inferior. They had no natural defenses, no tusks or barbs. Their night vision was so appallingly bad they might as well have been blind.

  Their spirit that convinced him that the treaty was a good arrangement, despite their obvious inferior nature. They fought the Suhlik longer than most planets that suffered the same ill luck to be invaded. Their weapons were laughable, yes, but they fought with a desperate mania, knowing the battle would not be in their favor. And they somehow seemed to thrive in this damnable cold.

  His female was the best by far. She had sur
vived on her own in the unsecured zones, evaded Suhlik and Mahdfel patrols alike. She was resourceful, skilled, and smelled so damn succulent it made his cock hard.

  He patrolled the bridge daily, hoping to catch a glimpse of her. He left packages of supplies where she would find them. Once he even left a coat, to replace the one she sacrificed on the fence. Thus far she had evaded him, but he would find her. Until then, he would not leave Earth.

  He was as trapped here as his female.

  The drone of an engine disturbed the quiet.

  Chapter Two

  Kol

  The shield generators hummed to life—along with the annoying sirens the Terrans insisted on—and a golden buffer spread above the secured zone. Placed in a ring, the generators formed a safeguard over the Terran civilian structures, creating the secured zone. A huge power drain, the shields were only activated when the Suhlik approached. The shields could absorb an aerial bombardment, but not forever; just long enough for the Mahdfel to respond and push back the Suhlik attack. The shield generators were powerful but limited. It was not perfect, but it protected the most amount of civilians. Those not within the boundaries of the secured zone were vulnerable to bombings, gas, biological weapons and whatever horrors the Suhlik decided to unleash.

  The bridge stood outside the boundary of the shield generators. While the only structure to span the water, it was not vital. Mahdfel shuttles could move through space. Jumping over a few feet of water was trivial. Let the Suhlik destroy the structure.

  Movement at the foot of the bridge caught his attention. A dark figure went into the low profile building at the water’s edge.

  He knew at once that was his female.

  Alone.

  Outside the secured zone.

  During a raid.

  The stars must despise him.

  He ran through a short list of options. The Suhlik craft would target him. He could go to his mate and bring with him the Suhlik. No. Unacceptable. He must draw their fire away from his mate. There was no other option.