My Alien Warrior (7 page)

“Are you sure you want to walk home in this? I could drop you off instead.”

“The whole point was for me to keep you awake,” Khaos pointed out. “I’ll be fine.”

She arched an eyebrow at him. “Are you doing some knight in shining armor thing here?” she wanted to know.

“I...have no idea what that means.”

That made her laugh. “It means that you’re trying to save me.”

“From crashing your car because you can’t keep your eyes open, yeah.”

“I know how to drive!” Kayla insisted.

“All the same,” Khaos said. “It’ll make me feel better. Anyway, you wanted to hear about my job, didn’t you?” The atmosphere was cozy in the car with the rain lashing around them, and he was surprised at how much he wanted to talk to her. She had an easy demeanor and he always seemed to feel comfortable around her, which he liked.

And he liked talking about his time as a warrior in the arena (and was desperate to return to it when this was all over), so it was easy for him to fall into telling her all about it. About how someone had seen something in him that made them think that he would be good at it, and how he had risen to the challenge.

She laughed warmly when he described his first fight and how he’d been cocky and arrogant, even though the axe he’d been wielding was too heavy for him by far and he’d made an idiot of himself in front of the entire arena.

“It wasn’t my finest moment,” he said, laughing along with her.

“Well, you had to start somewhere,” she pointed out, flashing him a smile before she returned her attention to the road.

“That’s true. We all start somewhere.”

He talked about how he’d gotten better. How he’d trained and worked hard and learned to use his weapon more efficiently and how to read his opponents. Khaos finished his story with how he’d become champion and was chosen for this mission and then realized that they had been sitting in the driveway of her house for at least five minutes while he talked.

“See?” Kayla said, grinning at him. “Got us here in one piece.”

Khaos laughed and shook his head. “Because I kept you awake with my stories. This victory goes to me.”

“Uh-huh. Whatever you need to tell yourself. Do you want to come in for a bit?” she asked, after hesitating for a moment. “It’s still pouring out here, and I’m not wild about the idea of you walking all the way back to your place in the rain and the dark.”

Khaos thought about refusing again. He could easily make it back without a problem, but looking at her sitting right there with such an earnest expression on her face made him want to tell her that he’d stay.

She was concerned about him, clearly, and Khaos couldn’t remember the last time someone had been concerned with his welfare. He had a reputation of being able to take care of himself against most opponents and other obstacles, and people generally assumed that he didn’t need or want their help, but here was this human woman wanting to protect him from water falling from the sky.

“Okay,” Khaos heard himself saying.

Kayla’s grin was wide and bright, and it made something warm bloom inside Khaos. He almost didn’t notice the rain as they got out of the car and made their way to the front door, pausing so she could let them in.

Joyful barking could be heard from inside, and Kayla grimaced. “I have a dog,” she warned him. “He’s large and likes to jump on people he doesn’t know. He’s harmless, though, I promise.”

Dogs were something he’d read about and seen since he’d been on Earth, but they didn’t have them on Blessini, so he was curious.

No sooner had they stepped into the warmth and dryness of the house than a large, white animal came bounding out of one of the back rooms, leaping up and placing its paws on Kayla’s chest. She laughed and rubbed his head, murmuring affectionately before turning to look at Khaos. “This is Charlie,” she said. “Charlie, this is my friend Khaos. Don’t eat him.”

And with that, she left the two of them together and disappeared into one of the other rooms.

For a moment, the two of them just sized each other up. The dog had intelligent eyes, and he cocked his head to one side, surveying Khaos as if wondering if he was a threat or not. Most larger animals tended to see him as either a threat or their alpha because of his size and demeanor, and he was interested to see if dogs here would do the same thing.

Apparently, Charlie saw him as neither because he leapt up paws braced on his chest and tried to lick the side of his face.

Khaos laughed and petted him, sliding fingers through silky fur. “Do I get your approval, then?” he teased.

“You know, he rarely approves of the people I bring over,” Kayla said as she came back into the room, toweling her hair dry and wearing sweatpants. “You must be special.”

Her smile lit up her whole face, and Khaos found himself outright
staring
for a moment. She was beautiful. He had come to terms with that when he’d first met her. Even when she was tired and worn down, she had a lovely face and warm, sweet eyes, and she reminded him somewhat of the memories he had of his mother.

“I can make a bed up on the couch for you,” she was saying. “And I’m going to heat up some leftovers for dinner because I’m starving. Is that okay?”

It took him a few seconds to realize that she was talking to him and probably wanted an answer for the question she’d asked, and he blinked and then nodded. “Yeah. Yeah, that sounds fine. Thank you.”

“It’s not a problem. Apparently I like helping you. Go figure.” With one last smile she headed into the kitchen, leaving Khaos a bit stunned in her wake.

He wasn’t new to being around beautiful women, although beautiful
human
women were definitely something he wasn’t used to, but the warmth in his chest was different. When he spent time with women at home, he felt like he wanted to kiss them and take them to bed and see how flexible they could be, but this was different. Khaos could feel protectiveness and a strange kind of desire building up in him, and he frowned, wondering where it had come from. He’d never felt like that about any of the women he’d been around before, and he barely even knew Kayla, but there it was.

“Is pizza alright?” Kayla called from the kitchen.

“Pizza?”

“You’ve never had pizza?” she asked, sounding scandalized. “Where have you been?”

“On another planet,” Khaos reminded her.

“Ah, right. Well, you’re in for a treat, then.”

And apparently she was right. The food was warm and delicious, and the company was just as good. They sat up for a while and talked while they ate, and then Kayla made the couch up into a bed for him.

He watched as she moved around her kitchen, putting things away and cleaning up, letting her dog back in for the night and making sure the doors were locked. It was clear that she was comfortable in her routine, and he had to wonder how much he was changing things for her and how she felt about it.

“Sleep well, okay?” she said as she emerged, running fingers through her hair as she looked at him. “Tomorrow’s going to be another long day, although I guess you can sleep once you get back to your place.”

“You need a vacation, I think,” Khaos said, smiling softly and reaching up to touch her face from his spot on the couch. He half expected her to move away or tell him not to touch her, but her eyes widened instead, and she seemed to be leaning into it.

His palm cupped the entire side of her face, and her skin was warm beneath his hand, making him press it closer to the smooth contour of her cheek.

“You’re right about that,” Kayla replied, sounding somewhat breathless. “It’s been...a really long time for me.”

Khaos got the feeling that she was talking about more than just going on a vacation. With the way she worked, it was obvious that she didn’t have time to make relationships or probably even have flings, really.

He was so tempted to push for something. To pull her down and kiss her and try and see where it could go, but it hit him that he respected her too much for that. She was trying so hard to help him when it wasn’t her problem or even something that affected her people, and she didn’t have to do that. If he pushed too much and messed things up, then his people would suffer, and it wasn’t worth it to have that happen.

No matter how much he wanted to see how pretty she would be under him.

Apparently luck was in his favor, though because heat flared in her eyes and she leaned down a bit, searching his face. “I don’t do this either,” Kayla murmured. “Almost never, in fact.”

“First time for everything?” Khaos tried, mouth curving into a smile as he looked at her.

A lovely flush colored her cheeks, and he was pleased to feel it under his hand, thumb stroking across her cheekbone.

“That’s really tempting,” she breathed back, and he could see her struggling with the decision. Honestly, it was flattering that she was even considering it, since she definitely didn’t seem to be the type to jump into bed (or onto the couch) with just anyone.

They didn’t know each other all that well yet, but Khaos was definitely hoping that there was a way he could change that.

Even if nothing happened right away, or at all, she was definitely the kind of person that he wanted to get closer to, which was surprising because usually he wasn’t the kind of person who was interested in things like that at all. Flings and casual affairs were easier for him in general, and more fun, usually, but there was something about Kayla that just made him want to keep her close and keep her safe.

To make her
his.

“I shouldn’t… I have to work in the morning,” she murmured, and there was real regret in her voice. “Can we...take a rain check on this?”

He frowned, turning the unfamiliar term over in his head, and his arched eyebrow seemed to be enough to let her know that she had no idea what he was talking about.

Kayla smiled and shook her head. “It means that we’ll come back to this. When I don’t have to get up in a few hours and go into the office. I have Saturday off, and we can do something that isn’t work for a change. If you want?”

“I want,” Khaos said, and before she could pull away he was tugging her down into a kiss. It was just a brushing of their lips against each other, warm breath mingling for a few seconds before he let her go and she pulled back.

“Oh,” she breathed.

“Yeah,” Khaos echoed because there wasn’t much else to say.

Chapter 6: In the Shadows

“Sir, we’ve located him.”

The voice was cold and almost metallic sounding, consonants clipped and sharp in the gloom of the room.

The home of the Vekosh was harsh and dark, located just on the edge of the desert and dark most of the day. It was perfect for a race of creatures who skulked in shadows and thrived in darkness, hunting and hurting those who needed the light to flourish.

“Where?” rasped the king of them, a large creature with scaled skin and red eyes. His bulk was squeezed onto his throne, a chair made of iron and bone, as cold and harsh as the man himself. Clawed fingers dug into the armrests of the throne as he surveyed the minion who had come bowing and scraping in.

The Kaspersi were like a plague to his people. Taking all of the more fertile areas and turning them into havens of technology and growth. They spread like fungus, growing faster than the Vekosh could wipe them out and leaving only the ruins of what they left behind for his people to try to salvage into something worth having.

The only way to overcome it would be to wipe out the Kaspersi, the most populous of all the races that called Blessini home, and Nambroc, the king, was salivating at the chance to do it.

But first he had to hunt down their so called champion. Perhaps killing their beacon of hope would do wonders for lowering the morale of the Kaspersi and make them easier to pick off. Once they were all wiped out, no one would be able to stop the Vekosh from claiming whatever land they wanted.

Nambroc looked down his nose at his underling, waiting for him to report on the whereabouts of the Kaspersi champion. If they thought that sending some weakling warrior to another planet for help was going to save them, then they were very much mistaken.

“He is on Earth, my lord,” the underling replied, nose touching the floor from the depth of his bow. “They have sent him to the humans.”

Nambroc scoffed at that. “
Humans
. They are the only race more worthless than the Kaspersi. As if they could do anything to prevent the inevitable.”

“They have been known to be resourceful at times, my king.”

“Please. They are as skilled at killing each other as anything else. If not for their sheer stubbornness they would have wiped themselves out centuries ago. They are like
icjhi
,” he said, naming a kind of pest that thrived on Blessini and were impossible to kill without also killing the plants and animals around them. “And their entire planet should be burned.”

But it would be much too much hassle to destroy an entire planet, and there were priorities to think about, so Nambroc put that out of his mind for the moment. He had a goal that he needed to focus on.

He pried his claws from the throne and steepled his fingers, red eyes thoughtful as he contemplated a plan. “We will need to move faster. If we allow the
champion
, “ and he said the word like it was something distasteful. “To succeed, then we will be back at the beginning, and that
cannot
happen. Do you understand me?”

The minion nodded fervently. “What must we do?”

“We will send someone to Earth to deal with him. There are others, I’m sure, but the loss of the champion is a start. And he can lead us to the rest of them. The Kaspersi will be so much easier to destroy once they realize there is no hope for them.”

A savage joy lit in his chest at the thought of crushing them under his heel and seizing everything that they held dear. No longer would the Vekosh have to hide and deal in secret and darkness. Their darkness could spread and cover the planet, wiping out one race after another until everything was theirs by right of how they’d won it.