Aedian: Alien Warrior: A Sci-Fi Alien Invasion Paranormal Romance (7 page)

A few others filtered in, more important people in the cluster: their medic, the head’s son, a few of the ones who had been instrumental in helping to build their compounds, and the winners of the last tournament.

Everyone took their seats and turned their eyes to the head, anticipation high in the air.

Prias looked out over all of them and then banged his fist on the table. On the screens, each of the other heads did the same, calling the meeting to order.

“Head Talren,” Prias said, looking to the Calphesian on the left most screen. “Your report.”

Talren bowed his head and then looked around, dark blue eyes grave. “Our absence has been noticed,” he said in their language. “The Platoks have been on the move.”

At the mention of the name of the other race of creatures, outraged noises rose up from all the Calphesians, Aedian included. Out of all the beings in their quadrant, the Calphesians had been the strongest, but the Platoks had certainly been second. The only thing that had kept them in order had been the Calphesians’ strong presence, but now that they were gone…

Prias banged his fist on the table again, calling for silence. “What have they been doing?” he asked.

“Conquering,” Talren replied simply. “Already the Slifins and the Karracks have been laid to waste, according to my sources, the refugees from both clans have banded together for survival.”

Aedian blinked in surprise. The Slifins and Karracks hated each other, and only true devastation would have led to them joining forces. Of course, even together, they would be no match for the Platoks. Only the Calphesians could boast as much.

“They don’t seem to be stopping their conquest, either,” Talren continued. “And I fear they will expand beyond the quadrant soon enough.”

“Do you think they would come here?” Demos asked, a frown on his face.

A murmur rose up from those gathered, heavy with speculation. Aedian looked at Prias and could see the concern on his face.

“This is why we shouldn’t have left Calphas,” Aedian said, leaning back in his chair. “The Platoks would never have dared to do anything like this with us there. We held them in check.”

“Then we would have died along with Calphas and this would have happened anyway,” Alric, one of the other heads snapped. “There is wisdom in knowing when to retreat.”

Aedian snorted. “There is weakness in retreat,” he replied, knowing it was out of line for him to speak to one of the heads like that, champion or no, but he couldn’t hold his tongue. “There is nothing we can do from here.”

“Be silent, Aedian,” Prias said, deep voice heavy with disapproval. “We made the decision we had to make when we left Calphas. Do you find weakness in survival as well?”

“No, but-”

“Is there something shameful about the continued lives of our kind? Do you doubt that the Platoks would have waited until Calphas died with us on it before they danced over our bodies and ransacked our quadrant?”

There was true anger in Prias’ voice, and Aedian knew better than to reply. He clamped his mouth shut and kept his lips pressed together in a thin line.

“No one wanted to leave Calphas and come
here
,” Prias continued. “We find retreat as palatable as you do. But it was the only choice. There was no other. Leave or die. Survival is the most important thing. But perhaps you think the outcome of our flight is the true weakness, is that it? You think that dealing with the humans makes us lesser somehow? Because we took advantage of them as a resource? Because that is what they are. Just as sure as their food and water is. Their women keep our kind from dying out.” He raised his hand and clenched it into a fist. “Survival is the most important thing.”

“Yes, Prias,” Aedian ground out, and he didn’t speak again for the rest of the meeting.

The other heads gave reports from their sources, speaking of the way the Platoks seemed to be moving outwards from their quadrant to conquer the little planets on the outskirts, the ones who could barely defend themselves, who had been under the Calphesians’ protection. There was no doubt that they were killing the warriors and taking the women as slaves, as was the usual way, and the atmosphere of anger in the room just kept growing.

“Do you think they’re trying to draw us back?” Shiia asked at one point, and everyone looked to him. “To anger us until we take to our ships and return to the quadrant?”

No one had an answer for that.

“If they want to meet us in battle, they can meet us here,” cried one of the former champions.

“But what about the humans?” asked another. “They will not be able to fight. Earth is not made for this fight.”

“We can’t just do nothing,” someone else said.

Prias raised his hands in a bid for silence. “We will not do nothing,” he assured them. “But we need to plan. They’re tech is much lesser than ours, and it will take them time to get here if they’re coming. We will meet their threat if there is one.”

Around and around it went, with no one hitting on any real solution, and by the time the meeting was called to a close, Aedian was agitated, angry, and annoyed.

He stalked from the room, pushing past the little knots of people standing around talking. He didn’t want to talk. Talking wasn’t going to get them anywhere. For so many cycles, the Calphesians had kept the peace in their quadrant by beating down any threats that rose up. And now they were gone and the Platoks, slimy weaklings that they were, had come in and taken over.

It was wrong, and how they could all just sit there
talking
about it like it wasn’t a slap in the face was beyond him.

Aedian wasn’t really paying attention to where he was going as he stomped down the corridors back to the residential area. He was angry and wanted to
do something.

Before he knew it he was back at the door of his rooms, and he slammed his hand into the sensor, making the screen shake as it read his prints and let him in.

The door slid aside and he stomped into the room, throwing himself on the couch and fuming. His fingers were clenched into fists, claws nearly biting into the skin of his palms. Roxanne was around somewhere more than likely, he hadn’t been gone that long, and if he couldn’t hit something, then having sex with her would be the next best thing.

He usually tried to be gentle with her, knowing that she was fragile, but she seemed to enjoy it when he got a little rough: when he pinned her down to the bed or pulled her hair or dragged his claws over her skin, when he made her scream for him. And she tried to give back as good as she got, blunted human nails raking down his back, her mouth pressed to his shoulder, teeth biting down on the muscle there.

Yes, that would be an excellent distraction if he couldn’t have the one he wanted, and he got up, moving into the bedroom to see if she was still in bed.

The sheets were rumpled, and she was nowhere to be found, and Aedian let out a wordless growl of frustration until he heard the water running in the bathroom.

He stepped in, and there she was, back to the door as she showered.

She was beautiful with water cascading down her skin, her hair pulled up in a knot to keep it from getting wet. The bathroom echoed with the sound of her humming as she washed herself, and Aedian just watched for a while, enjoying the way her hands slid over her curves and wanting to follow them with his own hands.

When she turned and saw him standing there, she yelped and scowled. “Don’t
do
that?” she snapped, pressing a hand over her chest. “Nearly gave me a heart attack. Haven’t you ever heard of knocking?”

“These are my rooms,” Aedian pointed out.

“They’re
our
rooms, and you can get out now.”

“You will not order me around,” he snapped, irritation flaring again. He didn’t want to fight with her, he wanted to pull her to him and chase the water running down her skin with his tongue. But she could be so
infuriating
sometimes.

“Oh right, because you
never
order me around,” Roxanne muttered under her breath as she shut the water off and reached for her towel. “I mean it. Get out.”

“Come here,” Aedian said, holding a hand out to her.

“Did you choose today to forget how to understand English?” Roxanne said. “Go. Away. I’m not ready to deal with you, yet.”

Aedian bristled and growled under his breath as he stepped forward, eyes narrowed. “You are
mine
,” he said, voice lashing out like a whip. “Come. Here.”

“I do
not
belong to you!”

“You do,” Aedian insisted and then grabbed her arm, yanking her out of the shower. She lost her footing and stumbled, but the momentum of his pull meant she fell against his chest, and he used one arm to keep her there. “Hush,” he murmured as she swore at him and cupped her face in one hand before leaning down to kiss her.

They rarely kissed, usually only when they were in the heat of doing other things, but Aedian wanted to taste her. He wanted to have her limp and pliable against him, making those pretty sounds as she begged for more.

What he got was an outraged gasp and her rearing back and slapping him in the face.

The shock of it made him release her, and she stepped back, eyes hard as she glared at him. It looked like she was going to hit him again, but then she just turned on her heel and marched out of the bathroom.

Aedian listened as she got dressed, as she cursed at him and grabbed up her things. And then he listened as the door closed behind her, standing there in the bathroom, unmoving.

The anger in him had dissolved with the slap to the face, and even though it had barely hurt, the shock of her
hitting
him had jolted him out of the mood he’d been in.

And once the anger was gone, he was left with something that felt a lot like shame, a feeling he was quite unused to.

Chapter 6: A Matter of Forgiveness

“The nerve of him, honestly,” Roxanne ranted, pacing back and forth in her parents’ living room. “Like I’m just some kind of toy for him to pick up and put down when he wants. Like, I’m a...a stress ball or something for him to take his frustrations out on. Who does he think he is?”

Her parents sat on the couch, watching her with wary eyes as she paced. Neither of them said anything, but it was clear that Roxy didn’t need their input. She just wanted to get this out of her before she exploded. The whole drive to their house she’d been fuming, muttering under her breath, but trying to keep her temper under control lest she get into some kind of accident and hurt other people with her anger.

She didn’t want that.

But as soon as she’d cleared the threshold of her parents’ house, she let all of it come spilling out.

“And the worst part is that this is just what my life is going to be like now,” she said. “Because I’m stuck with him. It’s just going to be bickering and him trying to
use
me, and I hate it!”

Her mother flinched back from the anger in her voice and then sighed. “Roxy, dear, have you considered that this was an isolated incident?”

“What?”

“Well…” Her mother and father exchanged glances. “You said he’s never done anything like this before, right?”

“...Right,” Roxy admitted, somewhat reluctantly.

“Well, then. Maybe he was just in a bad place and made a mistake. It doesn’t mean that it’s going to set the tone for your whole relationship. If I got discouraged at every stupid thing your father’s ever done, you wouldn’t have even been born.”

“Oh, thanks,” her father said dryly. “But your mother has a point, Roxanne.”

“Oh sure, take his side,” Roxy muttered, folding her arms.

“You’re my daughter, Roxanne. I’m always on your side, I’m just saying that-”

“And of
course
it’s always going to be like this,” Roxy cut in. “That’s just how he is. He sees me as something inferior, something weak. Why wouldn’t he take advantage of that when it suits him? He’s showing his true colors more and more.”

There was a moment of silence, and her mother sighed. “Darling, I’m not making light of this, because I can tell you’re upset, and if you think this is going to be a problem, I promise I’ll do everything I can to try and get you out of marrying him, I just… Did you even talk to him about it after it happened?”

Roxanne stared at her mother in disbelief. This was the woman who had congratulated her for punching Robbie Harper in the face when he’d unhooked her bra in math class. This was the woman who had taught her that she was the only one who had control over her body and that she didn’t have to put up with anyone doing anything to it that she didn’t want. And now she was sitting there telling her that she was overreacting about this?

“No, I didn’t
talk to him
,” she said, as if the very idea was ridiculous, which it was. “I slapped him and got the hell out of there. Why would I have talked to him about it? Why are you taking his side?”

“I’m not!” her mother insisted. “I’m only saying that there’s something to be said for...making the best of a bad situation. And maybe you shouldn’t have hit him?” Both Roxy and her father stared at her, and she huffed, folding her arms. “What?”