Alien Paladin's Woman: SciFi Alien-Human Military Suspense Romance (14 page)

There was still time.

* * *

T
he stolen Brion
ship was dim, dark enough for Audrey to be almost blind. She knew they saw well in the dark, but for her it was a perilous walk.

The Fearless noticed and the hallways lit up immediately. Audrey doubted if it was any courtesy to her. For some reason, the Fearless was being more careful with her well-being than it was with its own.

Then again, she was considerably less durable than it was.

Audrey wished she knew what had happened on the
Vehement
and if Tieran was okay, but then something knocked her right back to her own reality.

She and Tieran had assumed the Brions were dead, but they were far from it. Judging by the looks on the faces of the men Audrey saw, they perhaps wished they were.

The shame of losing to an enemy without honor must have gutted the men.

Tied together in a large room, unarmed, they watched the Fearless approach with open disgust. The large battle spears were piled up in one corner, out of their reach.

Audrey thought it was rather careless to leave them alive, but the Fearless didn't think like she did. First of all, she immediately realized why it was being so careless with its host. It just had them to spare.

What a horrible fate.

Secondly, it wasn't afraid of them. It had overpowered them once, it could do it again.

She had to resist an urge to run and try to free some of them. They weren't a match for the Fearless, but they could have helped, at least. All of them were looking at her with curiosity too, but none spoke.

Just as she was thinking up a plan, a few Jorcossi entered the hall and took up positions around the warriors. Audrey noticed several splitters. It made her skin crawl, as much as it posed another problem.

That made escaping considerably more difficult, of course.

"Come," the Fearless called her. "Don't even think of helping them."

Audrey followed, hating the fact it read her mind so easily, but perhaps it had done her a favor. The Brions were looking at her differently, now that they knew she wasn't an ally of the Fearless but a prisoner like them.

She could barely believe it. All the Brion warriors looked tough and capable, but they were herded together like sheep. If the Fearless was powerful enough to subdue them all, what hope did the rest of the galaxy have?

Then she thought of Tieran and the way he had fought the mech. She knew he could face the monster, but first the paladin commander needed to get to it.

Audrey let the Fearless lead her through long hallways until it reached the bridge. From there, she could see the
Vehement
.

Thank the gods, it hasn’t been blown up yet.

Her mind immediately went to the guns the Brion ship sported. If they opened fire, the Palians were as good as dead. And now that she was no longer on board, the Fearless had no reason to show mercy, especially if it didn't possess the capability to feel compassion.

She needed to buy Tieran some time. Audrey didn't see the Jorcossi ship anywhere, which could only mean one thing since they'd tracked them side by side with the Brion ship for a while now.

It had to be somewhere inside the Brion ship. The unit of Jorcossi she'd seen guarding the prisoners were but a fraction of the enemies really residing on board.

"Very clever," the Fearless said, evidently picking up on that line of thought however distantly.

Being so close together, the bracelet must not have been shielding all of her thoughts as well as she would have liked.

Audrey glared, knowing it did her no good. It was then that she realized the full breath of the Fearless’ plan.

The Fearless wasn't going to destroy the
Vehement.
It was worse than they had even suspected. The monster truly was calculating the best way to succeed now.

It didn't want to kill Tieran, it wanted to possess him. Brion warriors were fine, but they didn't match the paladin commander. Though it probably didn’t need a host, it certainly saw the benefit in having one, now.

Being able to blend into the surroundings, move around without attracting armies looking to kill it with a single step, was about as valuable as the lifestone stores on Verien.

Combine those two together and the Fearless truly could be unstoppable.

And if it looked in Audrey's head,
really
looked, it would have seen everything. Her feelings towards him and his for her.

She wasn't a prisoner, she was bait.

The Brion host was smiling the same empty, lifeless smile as the man in the Verien mines. The Fearless turned to her and Audrey got to see the understanding flash in the warrior's eyes before the Fearless emerged.

She would have screamed, but her throat was tied shut. Audrey had to crane her neck to take all of the monstrous beast in.

It was shorter than the snake she'd seen, but it made the Fearless no less threatening. On the contrary, there was something genuinely unsettling about the dark, obsidian form it took.

Its eyes were hollow pits with huge red pupils that made it look like there was a dark flame burning in the beast. It was a towering, draconic creature with long clawed fingers and hind legs like a humongous wolf. The worst was the face, with canine maws and sharp teeth, biting air with nothing else to sink its teeth in.

How can it fit in a person?
she thought, swallowing dryly.

"We wait now," the beast snarled, its voice like crackling fire. "The paladin will come. You will show me the way to your mines together."

"No," Audrey said before she could stop herself. "We will not help you. Never."

"No?" the Fearless asked as though it was unused to the word. "Everybody says that. Then everybody dies. I offer you life, female. If I take Verien, I want more. You will help me find it, help me navigate. I possess the stone, but it does not lead me. It leads you. First, you will take me to your ice world. Then, you will take me everywhere else."

So that was the reason she was still drawing breath and why she was free instead of possessed by the monster.

I’m a glorified GPS system.

Audrey stared at the Fearless, hatred giving her courage that had toppled, seeing its true form. It was a small relief to know that it could not track the lifestone stores itself. With the help of the Jorcossi, it could find Verien on its own, most likely, but he couldn’t find any more of it.

And it wanted every bit of it that the galaxy had to offer.

"I will not help you," she said firmly.

The Fearless laughed. It was a horrible sound, making her feel like there was no happiness in the universe all of a sudden. It would more than likely be so once the creature was through with the galaxy.

"You will," the Fearless said. "You will do as I say and perhaps I will not kill your male."

S
he was gone
.

As soon as the bridge reported that the fighter had taken off, Tieran knew that Audrey was on it. He cursed himself for not realizing the Fearless' objective sooner. It had been the right thing to do to try and kill the Fearless before it ever reached her, but the fact he'd let the beast slip changed it.

Now it seemed foolish to have left her alone.

Audrey’s message was relayed to Tieran the moment Geroy was cut down from the bulkhead. It was cryptic, roiling around in the back of Tieran’s mind as he led the preparations to retaliate against the Fearless.

What are you trying to tell me, little one?
he wondered, bile rising in his throat at the thought of Audrey being alone with the vile creature.

Tieran wasted no time. He had only one task now, for the sake of them all. He gave strict orders to board the Brion ship in response. If that vessel fired its gun at them, all hope would be lost. They had to disable the ship and kill the Fearless.

That was easier said than done.

The Fearless hadn't come alone. The Jorcossi were so many they blocked up entire hallways, making it impossible for Tieran to move without cutting his way through a mass of bodies. His glaive was bloody and so was he, fighting his way to the splitters to take the damnable bastards down before they created more.

Other paladins joined him, but it was clear that the Jorcossi were under orders to tie him down specifically.

Palians didn't perceive battle like other species did. There was no part of them that enjoyed killing. The closest they came to feeling good about ending lives was stopping an evil creature like the Fearless, making the task of destroying the Jorcossi entirely joyless.

Tieran slashed his blade left and right, feeling no remorse. The Jorcossi had been given plenty of chances to join the Union, to become better, but they had not.

The reason he almost felt sorry for them, the reason he took care to deliver quick, merciful kills, was that they were afraid. The Fearless, whether it was really a Jorcossi or if it had somehow replicated the ability, was coercing them into following its orders.

And unlike Palians, Jorcossi had never been particularly ready to put their necks on the line for others.

In fact, Tieran doubted it had been any question at all. If a being like the Fearless showed up and demanded their allegiance, he was sure there hadn't been a moment of consideration.

Right now, that meant they were in his way.

Tieran aimed his blows at the splitters, but they kept behind the lines, flooding the halls of his ship with their vile spawn. The paladins were responding, though. They surrounded the bigger enemies, pushing them back step by step, cutting down their guards and splitting them open like their name demanded.

It seemed like a lifetime had passed when Tieran finally stood without an enemy charging him. The floors of the ship were packed with bodies and the sight disgusted him. The walls were red as well, the handprints of falling soldiers as they slid down.

All of it would have to be burned, along with his fallen brothers.

He knew it would only be worse if he didn't stop the Fearless.

Taking a unit of his best paladins, Tieran made his way to where the Fearless had taken Audrey. The
Vehement
was left under strict commands to abandon the ship in smaller craft the second they were fired upon.

Like that, there was a chance that at least some of them made it to safety.

It was the best they could do for the time being.

* * *

A
s he stepped
off the shuttle, Tieran knew he had no particular reason to believe Audrey was even still alive. The Fearless, after all, were known for never showing mercy.

But he couldn't convince himself of that, refused to even try. If anything bad had happened to her, he would never forgive himself. His first command was to send a couple of paladins to disable the ship's guns to make sure their own ship was safe.

Then they pushed forward into the ship, finding it unpleasantly dark as Brion ships were. Everyone was on guard since the bridge had confirmed the Jorcossi ship was now inside the bigger and faster one.

It meant there was potentially a whole Jorcossi horde waiting for them around the corner and Tieran didn't want to get rushed again.

He came around a corner, only to witness a sight he had never thought he'd see. A whole Brion crew, tied up in a large hall.

"Jorcossi!" one of them bellowed as soon as Tieran stepped into the room.

He dodged the splitter that was coming for him, groaning in frustration to see another wave of them coming out of the hidden nooks in the walls.

"Free the prisoners!" he roared to his paladins, meeting the first wave head-on.

His paladins rushed to the Brions, fighting off the Jorcossi guards while they did so. It left them an easy prey, but Tieran and the others formed a protective circle around them as they did so.

A few of his men went to throw the battle spears to the prisoners and the Brions joined the melee. It was good to have them at his back, but it didn't bring Tieran any closer to finding Audrey.

To think that the Fearless had possessed her was the worst to bear, because there was no way to save her then.

Tieran pushed on, suddenly hearing screams behind him. He spun around, glaive at the ready.

A Brion captain was standing in the middle of his dead brothers, clearly slain by his own spear, the blood still dribbling out of his abdomen. He was smiling, keeping his eyes on Tieran alone.

It was not the same warrior that the vids had caught on the
Vehement.
Tieran had been shown feeds as he mounted the counterattack of the Brion leading Audrey onto the fighter. The Fearless must have discarded the previous host like so much wasted space.

"I was right to choose you," he said. "You are the one to get me more."

The Brion warrior had to be a great fighter to achieve such a position within a species where promotion meant killing your predecessor. But the speed with which it attacked, the spear meeting the glaive in air, was nothing short of supernatural.

From behind the eyes of the warrior, a vicious gaze stared at him.

Around them, the fight had moved further, but the Brions clearly wanted to cut the Fearless down for the insult he was doing to their former commander.

"Stay back," Tieran warned, motioning for the Brions to hold. "I will kill it."

The Fearless barked an ugly laugh.

"I wouldn't do that if you want to see your female again."

The words were a clear bait, but Tieran couldn't stop his blood boiling at hearing that. If the bastard had hurt Audrey… it would mark the first time in his life when he enjoyed taking a life.

Without a question, he charged and the warrior host met him. There was no doubt in Tieran's mind. If it were anyone else, he might have hoped to spare Audrey's life with his own, but it was the Fearless. They didn't show mercy and they didn't bargain.

The only thing they were capable of was taking. If it wanted the both of them dead, no promise it gave would undo that.

The speed of the creature was incredible, but it was slowed down by the warrior. Compared to everyone else, the captain would have surely been an impressive fighter. But for the Fearless, it was a meat-bag that wasn't doing the job.

Tieran was giving no quarter, knowing the man the warrior had been was already gone. He kept up a relentless pressure, moving so fast it was hard to see until he managed to strike a wide blow with the glaive.

It cut the captain's legs from under him by the knees and he slumped to the ground. Tieran waited, his blade at the ready, for the Fearless to emerge, a frown of concentration on his face. He knew there was no need for him to kill the host.

The Fearless wouldn't allow itself to die like that, never in a million years.

The body was laughing, although everyone present could hear the pain underneath.

"I see," the Fearless said. "Very impressive. You will do."

Tieran knew what it was talking about. He had already suspected something similar when the Fearless hadn't simply stabbed him in the back when it had the chance.

But it wasn't so easy to take over someone that was conscious. For that, the Fearless had to have them subdued and Tieran had no plan to let it get so far.

“Never,” he growled back.

The captain's spine broke as the Fearless forced its way outside. Even among the company of warriors, Tieran could hear astonished gasps. As for himself, he didn't even blink, refusing to take his eyes away from the enemy, knowing how fast it could move.

The beast shook itself free from the corpse, turning its dark red eyes to him. Blood was dribbling off of it, the draconian form of it shiny and slick with the insides of the body it had inhabited.

Tieran raised his glaive, knowing he had to let the Fearless move first. There was no use in charging a creature like that. No move those bastards didn't already know or wouldn't be able to predict. Thousands of years of experience spoke through the beast.

It wasn't something he could hope to counter with luck.

Surprisingly, the Fearless wasn't attacking either. The two myths, one man and one beast, stood there regarding each other until a cry split the air.

It came over the ship's inner comm link and it was Audrey.

The cruel smile on the Fearless' face told Tieran exactly who was causing that.

"Leave her alone," he said despite knowing it was useless.

"No," the Fearless replied, as expected. "I like the way she screams. She does that more now after I took the pretty thing away from her hand."

Her bracelet
.

Without it, he knew that Audrey must have suffered greatly under the power of the lifestone, and the Fearless’ presence.

Tieran wanted to turn and run and find her, see if he could soothe the torture like before, but he was in the middle of the battle.

"Surrender now," the Fearless said. "I will let your female live."

"Go," Tieran ordered a group of paladins, covering them. "Find her. Get her out of here."

Behind him, Tieran heard them rushing away, hoping that they reached her in time. Then he turned his attention back to the Fearless who didn't seem bothered in the least.

Just as he was thinking it was weird for the Fearless to let prey get away from it, the creature turned tail and ran. The shock was so great that for a moment, Tieran stood stunned.

The Fearless wasn’t known to run, and
definitely
not when it seemed to be gaining the upper hand, but perhaps that was a new trick too, after baiting and stealing.

He hadn't expected the Fearless to delay their fight and he swore to never to let that happen again.

Coward.

Then he turned and ran towards the bridge, knowing the remaining paladins and Brions were capable of dealing with the Jorcossi. If the Fearless wanted him to give chase, Tieran was willing to give in. He couldn't let the creature escape to roam free and he didn't want Audrey to face it alone again.

The bridge was up ahead, but when he barged in, there was no one there. For a moment he thought the room was empty, but then he saw Audrey, tied and gagged under the command throne. He stepped forward, only to see her struggle and shake her head furiously.

Looking around, Tieran saw the paladins join him, as confused as he was. He had sprinted past them, but they had been almost on his heels when he entered the bridge. He took another step forward, but Audrey was now thrashing wildly. She managed to spit the gag out of her mouth just in time to scream:

"Tieran,
behind you
! The paladin!"

He turned just in time to strike the glaive right into the heart of the paladin coming up at him. The glaives of the other paladins struck into the body a split-second after, but Tieran had made the first cut. The death grin on the man's face stretched wider and wider until the Fearless emerged and Tieran backed away to untie Audrey, the paladins surrounding the beast.

“Run,” Tieran hissed at the paladins. “Kill the Jorcossi. Get off this ship.”

His voice boomed and the paladins turned away, following his orders to the letter. The loyalty of those men was astounding, as was their willingness to put faith in their commander to be able to handle the situation.

"With both of you here now," the Fearless said as Audrey got up, staring at it with loathing. "If you don't want to watch the other eat their own flesh, I want to hear something other than "no" from you."

The “No.” came from Tieran before he could even think about it.