Alien General's Beloved: SciFi Alien Romance (Brion Brides) (18 page)

"This ship,
Levi
, what was aboard it?" Worgen asked, his voice peculiarly calm.

Lana supposed he clearly had no reason to be distressed. Apparently his warship was nearly indestructible, for all intents and purposes. If nuclear detonation did nothing, there were very few things in the galaxy that could have. Possibly none at all. Worgen had to know that.

"It was transporting cores for nuclear power plants," Lana said.

"How do you know that?" Worgen pressed on, coming closer.

Lana felt the scorching heat began to give out. It meant there was a way for Worgen to regulate that. While every inch of her rebelled at the idea of his hands on her—
not yours
—Lana didn't move. Worgen's gloved hand slid up her arm to cup her chin, forcing her to look up into his bottomless black eyes.

"You told me to," Lana said, having to force the words out of her mouth.

At first, Worgen's appearance had terrified her, but now she had much better reasons to be anxious around him. It was the true, real fear of someone who had no moral qualms. Luckily she'd practiced her excuses in advance.

"I acquainted myself with every ship in the fleet to give you an overview."

As Worgen's dark gaze bored down on her, Lana tried to hold firm. All her plans seemed to be simple in premise but hard to carry out. She had known Worgen would suspect her immediately. Lana knew she was at his mercy and if the general wanted, he'd kill her on the spot. But until she was useful to him, organizing things in his stead... The best defense she could come up with was not lying. It would be difficult, but it could be done. All she had to do was somehow answer all his questions by not speaking a lie.

It wasn't much, but it was all she had.

"Did you give the order?" Worgen asked, his forceful tone almost bringing the confession to Lana's lips.

"No," she said, not lying.

"Did you give the
Levi
the idea to try this attack on my ship?"

"No, General. I don't even have communications with the rest of the fleet."

So far, all true. Brions had broken the comms on the
Flora
like everywhere else.

"Then explain to me how—"

Lana knew where that was going. If she was made to deny she had anything to do with the attack, her lie would be exposed. She was left with only one option, which was madness.

She interrupted.

"General," she said, daring to raise her voice a little. "No one in this fleet wants to die, but if you take away any hope a person might have, they act in unexpected ways. I don't know what went through the minds of
Levi'
s crew."

For a heart-stopping moment, Lana expected Worgen's spear to slice through the air and cut her head from her shoulders. But it seemed the demon had more patience with her than she'd have thought. The idea was both a relief and a threat at the same time.

The general released her, stepping away from the captain. Lana dared to breathe out again, only now realizing she'd been holding it. Had she done it? Had she really gotten away with it?

Her eyes kept searching the screens mounted on the walls of the atrium, hoping to catch a glimpse of Corden on his way back. If Lana had known he was present, it would have greatly eased her mind. She knew that her
gerion
would do anything, destroy everything in his path to protect her. Lana remembered thinking it was romantic, back in her youth when she'd first read about the Brion bonds.

Nothing on Terra compared to that. Nothing in the whole galaxy compared.

She thought Corden's words were a boast before, but honestly she knew they were not. It was what he truly believed and was willing to risk his own life for. He wouldn't let even death come between them.

The man still beside her fit the part of death quite well. Worgen's attention was back on the gathered people, all the more terrified now that they'd seen what happened to
Levi
. Lana thought back on her conversation with Yarel. If
any
of his fears were true, they might all die very soon. Worgen wouldn't hesitate to kill them all if they couldn't help him.

Yarel was there with her. Lana was very grateful for that and for the effort he was putting out to appear unconcerned. The two of them had to keep cool heads, even if everyone else lost it.

Worgen turned to Yarel.

"You have scientists aboard," he growled. "Bring them to me."

Lana and the bridge commander had predicted this, so a group of Palians appeared when Yarel signaled them. They came, trembling. Lana hoped Yarel had warned them in advance about what Worgen wanted.

She wondered if they'd give it to him if they could, to save their lives.

Worgen measured the Palians from head to toe, a grin on his face.

"A long time ago, your kind gave me and my men our youth back," he said. "They needed a bit of convincing, of course, but ultimately they did."

The Palians said nothing. The shame and the pain were clear to see on their faces.

"They made the mistake of trying to hide your secrets from me," Worgen went on, snarling. "I made them tell me everything before I killed them for the lies. You would be wise not to do the same. I want you to finish what they started. They gave my men their youth, but we've been in many battles since. Only a handful of those who started with me still live. The others..."

At last, Lana noticed the way the general was looking at his warriors. The disgust, the disapproval was clear to see now that she thought about it. The look reminded her of Corden. Both generals saw the clones as nothing more than pitiful shadows of what they were. Finding a similarity between them was not comforting.

"I can remake them," Worgen said, his deep voice practically a hiss. "But they are not the same. They train and learn, but they are not real Brions."

That explains why he sends them to die so easily. He hates them. They remind him of the men he's lost and they're never good enough to please him.

Lana almost felt sorry for the clones until she remembered them tearing mercilessly into her crew, slaughtering them where they stood. They might not have been good enough for Worgen's approval, but it did not excuse them. They sure as hell tried to be worthy of his brutality.

Worgen took a step closer to the cowering Palians.

"It took me a
long time
to see that you managed to lie to me after all," he snarled to the scared scientists. "I can't kill the bastards again, but I assure you I regret killing them so quickly. I won't make the same mistake with you if you even think to deceive me like they did."

Lana and Yarel exchanged looks. She was torn, wanting to help, but on the other hand intervening would do no one any good.

"You see," Worgen was saying. "The men I have are no better than children. They die and the next ones have to start anew. But I know you have something that can fix that. I know you can take minds and put them in new bodies. I know you can transport memories."

It started to make sense. The horrified look on Yarel's face told Lana that he was coming to the same conclusion.

Worgen addressed them all now, fierce glee burning in his eyes as he finally revealed his plan to them.

"I want you to reveal those secrets to me. Your crew will get to work on my men and the clones. I want them all to have the memories of the old ones. And every time one dies, I want it replaced with a new one that remembers the death so it will not repeat it. I give you a week before I set course to Briolina."

With that, Worgen turned away from them, leaving Lana and the Palians standing speechless. But before he went, the general added:

"And if any one of you thinks to betray me, look at
Levi
."

He knows
, Lana thought, the realization shooting through her.

With Worgen gone, the atrium came alive around them. People talking, arguing, crying, muttering to themselves. They hadn't overheard the rest of the exchange between the general and the Palians, but Worgen's threat was easy enough to understand.

As for Lana, she struggled for words. Yarel recovered first.

"I seems I must apologize," he said bitterly, looking at her with big sad eyes. "I didn't mean to lie to you, but I'm taking my words back. We
can
make him immortal in the way he means it."

"You can," Lana repeated. "Will you?"

Only silence answered her. Lana was about to accuse them of cowardice when she realized where she was. Worgen's meaning had been very clear. If he didn't get what he wanted, he'd kill each and every one of them and go find someone less stubborn. Could they afford to refuse him? Lana couldn't imagine sacrificing all those people, but what he was asking them was just as impossible.

To give a monster like that an undying army... Lana didn't think even Corden could stop them if it came to that.

Totally out of place, her thoughts turned to him. With the death threat hanging above her head, Lana realized how much she wanted to live. And possibly, if she stopped making herself deaf to her heart's calling, exactly how much she wanted to see if there was a life for her with Corden. None of it made sense to her, but very few things in her life did right now.

She left the atrium and the Palians behind, promising to discuss the ultimatum with them once she'd slept. The exhaustion was finally catching up with her. Lana had been awake for days now, refusing to miss anything.

The captain headed back to her quarters to find Corden already waiting for her. The general's lips curled into a smile at the sight of her. Not the sneer Worgen looked at her with, not even the grin Corden usually wore. A simple, pure smile because he was relieved to see her. Lana was too tired to fight herself, lunging into his arms and letting him wrap her into the warmth and safety of his embrace.

The words poured out of her mouth. Everything that had happened. The Palians, Worgen, the clones, the
Levi
, but of course Corden already knew about that.

It was good, Lana thought. The general was strong and sure and amazing. For a moment, she allowed herself to focus only on that, but it didn't last. She could sleep and rest, but it wouldn't change a thing.

Tomorrow, they'd still face an enemy that couldn't die with a ship that couldn't be destroyed.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Lana

"This is not the end."

Lana's head snapped up at the sound of the general's voice. He was still holding her in his arms after her breakdown, solid and firm, but it was the general's voice that pulled Lana out of her sorrow. It was so unlike anything else she'd heard from him before. Corden had laughed and joked and growled, his voice had been broken by rage and lust, but
kindness
was new. The idea refused to make sense in her head.

Lana knew the Brions were not as bad as they were made out to be —although Worgen was doing his best to prove the endless rumors true—but this was different. She'd never thought she'd hear a Brion sound comforting. Yet there it was, if she hadn't imagined it.

The moment was almost dreamlike. Lana stood, trembling with fear and fury, in Corden's sure embrace, but now it felt like she was sleeping. It was as if they existed out of time when the general leaned in for a soft kiss. His strong hands were on either side of her face, grasping it with a gentleness Lana hadn't expected either.

It did something to her. The wild, hopeless heartbeat started to steady. The future that had seemed dark and deadly had a sudden ray of hope.

"This is not the end," Corden repeated, with silent, calm insistence.

I have to give him that
, Lana thought, feeling hope filling her mind again,
it actually works when he says that.

She figured it was more Corden himself than his words, being what he was. Lana was neither a coward nor a quitter, but she
was
a realist. Her own physical strength was not a match for the Brions and the best of her plans still failed, although not entirely. Corden was a wholly different matter.

He stood before her, holding her in the nest of warmth, pressed against the firm metal of his armor. By God, she was so tired of only ever hugging that lifeless piece of metal. Realizing that made her come face-to-face with the fact she was nowhere near as uninterested in him as she would have liked to be.

Only in that moment, Lana didn't care. She was in a cocoon of safety, feeling as though nothing could touch her.

Definitely him. Hard to argue with someone a head taller than you, smelling like air before a storm, and strong like, well, a Brion. Where do they even get these biceps? I swear I couldn't circle them with two hands...

Lana stopped herself from trying to do exactly that, a furious, humiliated red coloring her cheeks. Her fingers had been idly stroking the general's body, sliding over the smooth surface of his armor. It fit him so perfectly it almost seemed like a second skin, which she supposed it was for warriors.

"It is pretty hopeless," she said instead of
gosh, that bed looks comfy
, biting her tongue to keep the treacherous words from coming.

She had to stay in control of herself. Every inch of her ached for the comfort Corden offered, for the eternal love that came with the package. But the incident still hovered somewhere in the back of her mind, a warning bell Lana had not been willing to silence.

Only she was starting to think it wasn't such a bad idea. The passion in Corden's eyes when he looked at her was unlike any emotion Lana had ever inspired. She knew men wanted her, found her attractive. Back on Terra and in the Union's service, Lana had never been alone if she didn't want to be. She was usually not a girl to stop a man's heart in his chest, but she seemed to have that effect on
him
.

Not one man had ever looked at her like she was the only woman in the entire galaxy. The most maddening thing about the light in Corden's eyes burning only for her was that Lana knew she
was
for him. After the recognizing moment, there would be no others. No woman alive would turn his head even if Lana was at the other end of the known universe.