Alien Paladin's Woman: SciFi Alien-Human Military Suspense Romance Read online

  She cried out when a particularly well-aimed strike hurt the Fearless enough to carry over to her. Audrey winced, but it was nothing compared to what the enemy felt.

  The Fearless was in pain.

  Tieran couldn't get a good enough blow in to kill it, perhaps because he seemed to keep an eye on her.

  Maybe, Audrey's clouded mind thought, he’s afraid that slaying the Fearless while we’re connected might kill me too.

  But just because he was holding back until she was in danger didn't mean he wasn't afflicting damage to the enemy. Through the eyes of the Fearless, Audrey could see it all.

  It was immediately clear to her that those weren't the images the monster had intended for her to see. The gleam of Tieran's blade, the flashes of pain that shot through it almost visibly, the dark blood running to the floor.

  For some reason, that was the one that sealed the deal. The blood.

  It had been a long time since the Fearless had seen its own blood flow.

  As Tieran cut it, stabbing the glaive so deep as to almost slice the beast in half, the Fearless finally lashed out.

  Audrey had been so close. Her fingers had already been brushing the clasp again. After the Fearless was so busy with Tieran, its attention towards her had slipped a bit, but then it realized it had to fight its way out of there.

  “It’s all over, little one,” the Fearless growled, its voice echoing through the frozen bay.

  And Audrey felt herself disappear.

  The last she remembered before she slipped into darkness was the horrified, wide-eyed look in Pelar's eyes. Audrey’s hand felt like she was the one who had claws as she lashed out and then there was no more Audrey at all.

  The smell of blood was horrible.

  As she opened her eyes, she was hit with a bundle of emotions. It felt like she had been sleeping for ages, but also like she had never closed her eyes, which was probably true as well.

  She wished she had never opened them, instead.

  The scent that had awoken her was coming from the carnage right in front of her eyes. She was standing at the entrance to the mines and everything was fucked up. Her hands were bloody.

  "Oh god no..." she whispered as the despair buried her, truly hers this time.

  Standing at the entrance to the mines, she could see bodies of dead paladins and miners. The realization of what had happened was too clear. While being controlled by the Fearless, she must have come down here, and killed them. Luckily, there were not too many, but any life lost was one too many.

  She could hear urgent footsteps and then Tieran's strong hands closed around her as hopeless sobs wrecked her entire body. Audrey clung to him, knowing she didn't deserve any of the comfort.

  "It wasn't your fault," Tieran said, pressing kisses against her hair. "Not your fault, do you hear me, Audrey? I need you to focus and to listen. Repeat it back to me, I need to make sure you understand."

  Audrey could see the heap of dead bodies even with her eyes pressed closed, her face hidden against Tieran's armor. Her bracelet was nowhere in sight.

  "They followed orders," she said, her voice almost as dead as she felt inside. "They fought.”

  Another round of tears threatened to come, but Tieran took a hold of her shoulders and made Audrey look him in the eyes.

  "It wasn't you," he said. "You would never do this and you know it. I need you to stop thinking you can take on the Fearless on your own. You can't. Perhaps even I can't. We must do it together and I need you to tell me that you agree, Audrey. Are you with me?"

  She shuddered, but his words were starting to break through the initial horror that she'd felt, seeing the bloodbath in front of her. Rage arose again, realizing that the Fearless had let her free right then just for the effect the sight would have had on her.

  She made sure her bracelet was shut tightly before nodding, wiping the tears away. The time to mourn was later, not now.

  The most urgent problem was right behind the dead.

  The Fearless had outsmarted them every step of the way and it finally had what it wanted. The doors to the mines were ripped out of the frames and there was a huge hole, signaling that the Fearless had pushed itself through.

  Audrey didn't know how much time had passed, but it made sense for Tieran to come at once so they were probably only minutes behind.

  And there wasn't anyone else in sight.

  "Did I kill Pelar?" she asked very quietly, not seeing the diligent girl anywhere.

  "I don't know," Tieran admitted. "She was the first you attacked and the blow you gave her was a nasty one, but I didn't stay to check. You were gone from the hall so fast I only had time to come chasing after you."

  Tieran looked a mess. He was bleeding from several wounds and seemed to have a limp to his right leg. His eyes burned feverishly and his expression was stony, like the paladin had finally seen too much. It seemed to have only strengthened his resolve to end it all, though.

  Audrey wondered if everyone in the station was dead but them. She didn't even see any Jorcossi around, but that didn't really make sense. The Fearless wouldn't bother with anyone not explicitly in its way, and the Jorcossi had been fighting for him. Would he not have them follow him once he broke out of the bay?

  Maybe he doesn’t want them close to the lifestones…

  She nodded seriously.

  "I am with you," she said. "I am. Let's get that bastard."

  They entered the mines, immediately witnessing the destruction the Fearless had left behind. It had no finesse, no patience, no anything.

  Audrey walked carefully along tunnels that the monster had simply broken through. Everywhere, broken equipment and damaged structure hinted at its passing.

  Like the Fearless, she and Tieran were forced to travel down into the depths of the mines on foot. All the elevators were broken and the passages too damaged to be used in anyway and as such, it took a while for them to catch up to the Fearless.

  All that time, she didn't dare to speak a word. Everything that mattered had been said between her and the paladin already and the situation was unfortunately clear enough.

  Their attempts to stop the Fearless in the station had failed and that had been the only objective, in truth. They had both figured that once the monster got into the mines, it would be over.

  Perhaps it was.

  Audrey knew they wouldn't learn that until they stood face to face with the enemy. Again.

  Not that it has done us much good so far.

  Going deeper and deeper, Audrey felt the glow and the power of the lifestone more clearly than ever before. It was comforting that compared to that, the Fearless was nothing but a speck in the distance. She hoped it meant that the Fearless hadn't found the lifestone yet.

  "Tieran," she said, the sound of her voice in the silence surprising even herself. "If we get down there and it has found the stone, I just want my last words to you be the truth.

  “I love you."

  The look in the paladin's eyes was as close to happiness as Audrey had ever seen, the stillness of his expression changing for a moment.

  "I love you too," he said and took her hand, holding it firmly in his.

  They took a moment to simply look at each other, despite not having a second to spare. After all, Audrey thought they were both prepared for the likely event of dying. Almost everyone else had already, so it was the only reasonable outcome, right?

  If they had to pay for their mistakes with their lives, she was glad for that moment.

  She let go when the flicker that had been the Fearless suddenly flared to life again, becoming a burning flame once more.

  It had reached the bottom of the mines.

  20

  Audrey

  Tieran seemed to read the truth from her eyes.

  The paladin turned very serious, more so than Audrey had ever seen him. She felt a tinge of guilt, like it was her fault. They were faced with a terrible enemy and it just happened to have gained another edge on them.


  "What now?" she asked quietly.

  "How bad is it?" Tieran asked, his deep voice firm as iron. "Has it reached the core?"

  Audrey focused on the Fearless, increasingly brighter in her vision, but the mountain still outshone it.

  "I don't think it has reached much," she said. "Maybe the same batch we found. It would make sense, it's the most easily accessible part."

  The paladin considered the information for a moment. Then he took Audrey's hand and they started going back towards the station.

  "Tieran..." she protested. "We can't leave it there."

  "We won't," he said sternly. "I told you. I have no intention of letting the Fearless get away with anything. It has outsmarted us so far, but I will put an end to it. I should have done this in the first place."

  "What are you going to do?" Audrey asked, barely keeping up with his long strides.

  "I will collapse the mines," Tieran said as though it was the most obvious thing in the world.

  Audrey stopped right in her tracks, staring at him, glaring.

  "You would be willing to lose the lifestone stores. Everything we've been working towards for over a year? After all the lives we’ve lost? Wasn't it you who told me what it could do for the galaxy?"

  "Yes. Right now," Tieran said, pulling her along again. "It is threatening to be the thing that brings the galaxy down. I will not permit that to happen. We can reach the core again, but if the Fearless escapes, there is no telling what it will do."

  It made sense, but it still hurt. As the governor of the planet, she felt a kinship to it. Not only to Verien itself, but also the people who lived there, who had sacrificed so much to gain something so valuable.

  "You're right," she said then, picking up the pace as well. "But Tieran... I don't think it will kill the Fearless."

  "I don't expect it to," the paladin said. "I believe it will make it choose between the stone and its life and that is not a choice at all for it. I want it to claw its way up a collapsing mountain and meet me face to face at last. No tricks, no hosts, just the enemy and me."

  "It will be furious," she pointed out.

  There was an odd smile on Tieran's face as he nodded.

  "Yes," he admitted. "Trust me, Audrey. We will end this right now."

  There weren't many people left alive outside the barricades. A few other paladins had managed to survive and they were as close to furious as paladins could get.

  The enemy down below was grating on all of their nerves, pushing aside every other issue.

  Tieran ordered an immediate evacuation of remaining personnel as Audrey got to work with the safety measures of the mines.

  Time was of the utmost importance now, but Audrey needed to give her people some time. Collapsing the entire mine right under the station was a last resort, not something that could be planned precisely, even with Palian technology. Tieran was very clear about that.

  None of them had any idea whether the station would still be standing when they detonated. He assured her that they wouldn't be sucked down to the planet along with it, but there were risks.

  Earthquakes, collapses, loss of power due to all of that... And Audrey didn't need to be told that. She had her own experiences with things like that and she'd seen them take a wrong turn.

  At least Gil isn’t here, she told herself, smirking wryly as she worked.

  As many people needed to get away as possible, but Audrey wasn't wasting time. She trusted in her teams. They were well-trained and well-organized. By her command, they would move without question.

  The Fearless, of course, was an incentive that she couldn't possibly hope to match. Who would have wanted to stay on the surface with that monster?

  Except for her.

  Audrey still refused to leave, but she was also intent on not letting the enemy use her again. The bracelet had been found in the bay and now remained locked on her wrist. Although she'd had a blinding headache ever since she set foot on the planet again, it was bearable.

  All that mattered to her was helping Tieran in any way that she could.

  "How's it going?" the paladin asked, coming closer.

  "Almost there," Audrey said. "I'm trying to make sure it goes as I want. It needs to hit the Fearless hard, but we also need the station to stand. It's not exactly a precise science."

  Tieran looked over her shoulder, interested, and if Audrey didn't mistake the emotion, somewhat impressed.

  "I wasn't aware you knew so much about mining," he mused out loud.

  Audrey smiled, her hands never stopping flying over the console keyboard, overriding every safety with her identification code.

  "Of course I do," she said. "This is not my first mining world. I would be a pretty bad governor if I didn't know how my own enterprise worked."

  There was a strange light in Tieran's eyes as he regarded her, a warmth that almost washed away the intensity of their joint battle-readiness.

  "There is so much about you I still don't know," he said.

  Finishing the preparations with a sigh, Audrey pressed herself against him, loving the way he immediately cradled her in his strong arms. Ever since she'd met him, there had been a constant throb of desire whenever she was near him, but Audrey felt another emotion taking over that spot.

  Tieran was as gorgeous as ever, but the simplicity of being with him was unmistakably love.

  "That is just another reason to finish this," she said. "Are you ready?"

  The paladin laughed, the timbre of his deep voice hearty and soft. It gave Audrey courage too, knowing he hadn't given up. As long as Tieran believed they had hope, she was going to do everything in her power to aid him.

  So far, everything that could had gone wrong, and she was damn well ready for their luck to change. Even if Tieran didn’t believe in luck.

  She opened a comm link to the entire station.

  "This is your governor, Audrey Price," she said firmly. "To anyone still listening. Commander Tieran and I are ready to face the Fearless and make our final stand. In a minute, I will collapse the mine.

  “To all of you, in case I never see you again, it has been an honor to be here with you. I hope you all make it into ships before the Fearless comes, but we can't delay any further. Brace for impact in ten seconds.

  “Goodbye, and good luck."

  All the concerns over who had the highest authority over Verien cast aside, Audrey looked at Tieran, who nodded. In the back of her mind, she could still feel the Fearless, just as strong as before, but no stronger. With the bracelet on she could still sense him, but like it was through a window, safely on the other side.

  He doesn’t have more of the lifestone yet. That’s good, Audrey encouraged herself.

  Then she pushed the button that ignited the detonation in the mines. The sound of the first explosion was almost deafening and the ground shook beneath their feet so hard Audrey expected the floor to swallow them.

  It didn't.

  A thought flashed through her mind as Tieran held her that Palians really were the best at everything. She hoped the paladin was, too. Audrey couldn't imagine her life without him anymore.

  Below them, she could feel the Fearless realize their plan. It had a few seconds to consider. Between the choice of being buried underneath the mountain and abandoning its prize, Tieran had been right. It was no choice at all, but it was still a painful realization.

  When the Fearless roared thirty floors beneath them, everyone heard it echo over the station. Only Audrey, however, felt as it began to climb back up. She gripped at her chest, sensing its fury.

  Everything it had ever wanted had been ripped from its grasp at the last moment. The Fearless was coming for blood.

  This won’t be easy.

  In the minutes they had, Audrey made sure to get out of the way of the monster. She considered herself to be incredibly lucky – at least in one way - and she assumed Tieran shared that opinion with her. The fact neither of them had been taken on as hosts yet was nothing short of miraculou
s and she didn't want that small mercy to end.

  Being mind-fucked by an alien entity was already bad enough. Dying by having it burst out of your body would be… well, worse.

  From her cover, Audrey watched as Tieran waited for the Fearless to emerge. The paladin was standing ready, the glaive at its full length. The warrior was motionless, she could almost believe he was so focused he didn't even breathe.

  In fact, the only part of him that moved was the gray, silver-etched armor, growing bigger around him. The nanobot technology was as amazing to Audrey as everything else about Palians. It was like a living shield around him, ready to move to brace whichever area needed the most help.

  She kept silent watch over him, praying to any god who could hear her to give the man she loved strength.

  Determination he had to spare.

  It was nearly impossible to stay still though, as the Fearless' roaring came ever closer. Audrey shuddered, feeling the floor beneath her feet begin to shake as the beast was pushing through the final levels.

  Reports kept coming in over the comm link, of ships leaving Verien and fighting their way through the Jorcossi, that had been contained in the launch bays, searching for the Evela or what was left of their supply ship.

  Audrey was thankful for one thing, at least. After all the killing, there was no one left for the Fearless to use as a host. It was Tieran or the enemy, as easy as that.

  "It's here!" she called as a warning seconds before the Fearless emerged.

  Audrey gasped.

  The creature climbed out of the mines, shaking off the debris that had fallen on it, dust and rocks and metal. It was so big it barely fit in the hall and the entrance to the mines was one of the grandest, with a high ceiling and reinforced walls.

  The dark glow in its eyes was pure, ancient loathing as it roared, spittle flying. And underneath all the dirt and gore, Audrey could see it glow.

  After all it had done, it had managed to gobble up some of the stones it had desired. It must have reached the small store they had uncovered originally. But she could tell that its hunger was nowhere near sated.