The Cowboy Who Strolled Into Town (42 page)

A while later, as she slipped into her grey uniform, Alexa wished she could remember more of the details in the dream There were rumblings at the edges of her memories which she could not shake off. She giggled to herself as she left the bedroom thinking that all this was pretty strange for something that never really happened.

Then she froze in shock when she came upon, in the center of the room, the strange device. The very same one she thought she had only dreamt about!

Baleia:
7026 aa

Maggie sighted one of the Strigoi clones from afar. It was running straight for them. No defenses of any sort just unbridled aggression.

“Why are they so angry?” She asked Jaan, who stood between she and Jordan

“That I do not know Magnora. All I do know is that they are a threat to my people and must be put down. This attack is too straight forward. It’s an ambush. Some of them will be in the bushes or some other carefully chosen hiding place.”

Maggie was somewhat surprised by this suggestion. They were out in an open field, spanning almost a quarter of one of the biggest asteroids. It was around here that the botched experiments had been made. When the dangers of the aberrations created had become evident, the area had been quarantined off. The Baleians had no concept for confinement of persons. The clones lacking the capacity to contain Prima-radiation had been unable to float off the asteroid. All transportation beasts were kept out of reach of their telepathy.

Jaan sensing her curiosity about his remark telepathically told her about their similarity in thinking patterns. Aren’t you the strong, silent type she thought, giggling to herself.

“So we split up!” said Tenma-Asra, Jaan’s assistant who was also with them, “One person ahead to draw out the others from their position of espial and three others to wait behind to jump on them when they do!”

“My thoughts exactly!” voiced Jaan.

“So that makes it a bad idea in this case.” said Jordan O’toole.

“We better make up our minds quick people!” Maggie squealed as the Strigoi clone was almost upon them. She cursed, and jumped into the attack only to have Jordan leap into her body in a flash, bringing her to the ground. For a second the rogue clone seemed to hesitate to make up his mind between the upright two who were clearly more formidable, and the other two who lay entangled on the ground. It took the easy choice eventually making a beeline for the pair on the ground, and that was when Yaan struck ripping its heart out through its back.

It was gory to say the least. The heart lay beating on the floor.

“Get off me!” Maggie screamed, clearly shaken by events that had just transpired.

Major Jordan was off in a second. His usually calm self was unable to stare her in the face.

“You almost got us killed Commander! What is wrong with you?”

“If I did not stop you, you might have gotten yourself killed out there” He replied calmly, quickly returning to his old equanimity, “We have never seen those things in combat before”

Maggie knew he was right, but one look at that heart still beating set hers racing, “Like hell!”

“I think he is right Magnora, these things are on par in strength to us. Who knows what would have happened?” Tenma said.

“You have never faced real battle before Magnora,” Yaan said, touching her lightly on the shoulder with his unbloodied hand trying to calm her down,

“It gets better” He said, motioning them to head home, “We will come back another day for the other two”

The other two Strigoi looked on in the distance at the bickering group headed away.

Earth:
2195 A.D.

Alexa’s mind was in shreds. All she could think about was the ethereal man who had had offered her the strangest proposal she had ever heard of. She was skeptical at first, offended even, after he had offered her the chance to be the mother to a whole new race. She was not just some surrogate to be used for baby generation! A tool for ensuring the continuation of a species by creating a hybrid species! However, the more she thought about it, the more intrigued by the notion she became. That man or being had led her to a place called the Hall of Dreams where he had opened her to the entire ancient and sad history of this noble people who were hidden from the prying eyes of a universe they themselves had pretty much explored millennia ago. She had complained about his telepathy being intrusive when in truth it had been he, who had bared all for her to see-including a curious meeting of people like him that had taken place less than three days previously for her, but for him had taken place three thousand years ago. That was the amount of time he had travelled through to get to her! She had cried when the Strigoi (she was sure that was how he addressed them) had grown solemn, and had also laughed at their bemusements. She had been encouraged by their determination never to forget the past, but which was balanced by an even stronger will to safe-guard the future.

Above all, she grew obsessed with the thought of being loved by such a man or being (She got confused sometimes).

And to top it all off Maggie was nowhere in sight! She could not find her friend anywhere, and enquiries from colleagues met with equal lack of success.

Maggie where are you!

But the more she thought about it, there more she suspected her pinning for Maggie was actually a pinning to return to that dream land she had left recently. As for the box, she had tried to trigger it using all manner of technique she could come up with all to no avail. It was clear this was technology which was light years ahead of Earth’s. Three days after waking up in her room she wondered if she had imagined the whole thing up, but that did not explain the disappearance of Maggie, nor of her commander (perhaps they were on a top secret mission, she mused). Anyway she scoured the databases for anything to do with Baleia, but came up with nothing.

I must have dreamt it all up, she thought, a week after waking up. But, what of the gadget? She could remember it all like it was yesterday she pondered again. She was back to doodling her food again. This time alone, when Maggie appeared as if from thin air.

“Hey Bestie!” She said sitting down noisily, “Why the sad face? Don’t tell me you miss me already!” She teased as Alexa’s eyes popped out like mangoes.

Alexa was full of questions, and they all came tumbling forth in the crowded cafeteria.

“Calm down, calm down ok, one thing at a time.” She said smiling, “First off, I want to say I told you so. I told you Major Jordan was not human!”

“He isn’t?” Alexa asked shocked, “Come to think of it just how did you guys end up in my dream in the first place?!”

“Dream? What dream? Jaan said it would seem a little surreal to you afterwards, but that you would remember everything if you really wanted to”

“Aha!” Alexa exulted, startling the group at the next table. She quickly adjusted her volume “I knew I wasn’t crazy! But you still haven’t answered my question.”

“Well remember when I said Major Hottie was all over me asking about you? Well it turned out he was acting as a spy to those guys-the Baleians. It’s sort of high treason when you think about it, but it all seemed so silly at the time when he approached me saying you might need company where you were. It was silly till I entered that light portal and found you unconscious on that bed.”

Alexa absorbed all this in, not uttering a word.

“Another reason why I was recruited was to help take care of some nasty business they had over there concerning some rogue clones. I mean I got to try the Ultra-genome thing in real combat!”

“So Jordan O’toole is not human? How has he managed to so far go unnoticed under the radar?”

“Well he is human but his gene pool goes back to a Baleian ancestor. The ‘family reunion’ started months ago, and he has chosen you from a list of women the size of which you cannot possibly imagine”

“Seems like you and the captain got down to a lot more than fighting over there” Alexa said with a pointed look on her face.

“Me? No! Well yes! I would, but he is too much of a gentleman to take advantage of me like I really want. It must be all that Baleian blood in his veins.” She said flippantly with a wicked smile on her face, “It is so frustrating, and yet so intoxicating at the same time. No wonder men like being on the chase!” she ended with a glint in her eye.

“Well I’m happy for you.” Alexa said, outwardly doodling but with a racing heart pounding within its cage “How is he?” She finally squeaked, the sound barely above a whisper.

Maggie smiled “He has been waiting for you all this while, even I have been wondering-I mean you have nothing to lose here-“

“I can’t get that doohickey to work! I mean I’ve tried everything except blasting it open with a hydrogen bomb.”

“Duh! Telepathic entities? All you have to do is think it!”

Later that night Alexa thought as hard as she could.

Nothing.

After three hours, discouraged and disheartened she went to bed, and fell into a fitful sleep.

She was once again on a ship staring through a giant reinforced window. The usual feeling of dread at the sight of space as she looked at a meteor shower in the distance but this one was moving. It was the same nightmare she had been cowering under for the last fourteen months.

“Alexa”

She turned at the sound of her name to find Jaan-Rostan of all people! In her subconscious she knew that this was wrong. He was not supposed to be here or was he?

As she pondered, she saw an intense flash of light, and she turned to see that the asteroid shower from earlier had blown away half of a ship she had failed to see earlier.
Was that the ship from her usual nightmare
? she wondered.

“I need you Alexa” Jaan spoke, his voice filling her mind, and snapping her out of her slumber.

She was immediately aware of the royal purple light the emanated from the living room once more. She approached it once more, this time no inkling of fear resided within her. She knew she wanted this more than anything else. She knew she would never dream of Robert again, and she was not sure if she would be coming back anytime soon. At least, not till she had made her first kid or kids with Jaan. She could feel his presence in her mind strongly, and this time she did not mind the intimacy, in fact the thought of him making love to her bothered on intoxicating.

Dr Alexa Kayma stepped into the dancing hues of royal purple with a firmness of purpose, and a finality of step that perhaps suggested that it could be for the very last time.

The End

To get your 3 free bonus books below!

Just tell me where to send it

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Riley is very romantic and open about her sexual fantasies. The sexier and naughtier the better. She writes paranormal, fantasy, Sci-Fi, Shifter, Billionaire, BWWM, BBW Romance short stories. Her first published book was the first part of the Unreal Series, Which is a Romantic Thriller. Her stories are now all bite-sized, just what you need to soothe that craving for brave women and growly alphas with a big side-order of smutty sex.
Riley lives in Virginia with her fiancé and several dogs of varying sizes and levels of mischief. She can't go through a day without taking a selfie and has an unhealthy addiction to shoes and perfumes, but every girl is allowed her little vices, right?

 Please leave a review if you have enjoyed reading this book!