ALIEN SHIFTER ROMANCE: Alien Tigers - The Complete Series (Alien Invasion Abduction Shapeshifter Romance) (Paranormal Science Fiction Fantasy Anthologies & Short reads) (74 page)

Chapter 7

At dinner that night, Tyr asked Jane about her day, and she told him everything except her encounter with Hermo’our.

“Everything was very innocuous and mundane. I ran errands for Princess Melanie and helped her with her needs.”

“I saw you come out of one of the sitting rooms.”

Struggling to maintain her composure, she inhaled deeply and exhaled through her mouth. “I should be ashamed, but I needed a little time to myself. It had been a busy had at that point.”

“I also saw Hermo’our come out of the room later, but he had not entered.”

“What are you saying?”

“That you two met, of course. You had a rendezvous with my cousin when you said that you do not like him.”

“I don’t. That doesn’t mean that he didn’t deceive me. He drew me into the room without my permission.” She felt like she was being interrogated and wanted to tell Tyr to stop, but she knew that she needed to play along so he didn’t get any more suspicious than he already was. “I left as soon as I could without being disrespectful to a member of the royal family.”

“He has always felt very much entitled to whatever he wants. I believe he wants you.”

“What he wants doesn’t matter,” Jane insisted. “I won’t let him near me again unless there are others present.”

“That is as it should be. Now that you are here on Cartonia, you cannot go back to Earth, so we will find you another mate. You are not right for me.” Without hesitating, he changed the subject. “Have you heard that Odin and Melanie are leaving town?”

“No,” she replied in fake surprise that she could only hope he would believe. “The princess hasn’t said anything to me about it.”

“They will leave soon, and Fenrir will take over the throne while they are gone. By the time they return, everything will be in place.”

“Do you know how long they’ll be gone?”

“I understand it will be an extended period.”

“This is what we’ve been waiting for!” she exclaimed in excitement. “A bloodless coup is so much better than fighting for what you want.”

“That is what I keep telling my uncle. I impress upon him that if he is patient, his time will come. Now it has. We will be living in the palace with him before we know it.”

“Wonderful! I can hardly wait to live there.” And that wasn’t a lie. She couldn’t wait to live there with Hermo’our, though, not Tyr.

***

Jane couldn’t believe that she was riding in a carriage drawn by two beasts that appeared to be a cross between a horse and a cow. Cartonia was place advanced enough to fly to another planet, yet their transportation was quite outdated. When she questioned Melanie about it, the princess explained that here people either walked or took a mode of transportation that conserved what little energy they had. That gave them plenty for any inter-planetary travel they needed to conduct.

In a way, Jane was impressed by their determination to be conservationists. One of the few things she remembered about Earth was the automobile. Most times, it got people where they were going efficiently and expediently. Here on Cartonia, however, people were in no hurry—seemingly
ever
.

“Where are we going, Melanie?” Jane asked after they had been on the road for a while.”

“To a palace on the other side of the mountain,” Melanie explained. “Odin wants us to be away in case there is trouble at this palace. That’s also why Hermo’our is escorting us. He doesn’t want his son and the heir to the throne in harm’s way.”

“I don’t understand why you would take me as your helper when you have others that have been with you much longer.”

“For several reasons. One, you proved your loyalty by telling my son of Fenrir’s plans. Two, you stayed with Tyr, even though you dislike him, so we would have our own spy in the group. And, three,” Melanie paused and smiled at Jane, “because Hermo’our would have it no other way. He wants you away from the action as much as Odin wants me away. My son loves you, although I don’t think he really understands what that means. Cartonians don’t seem to possess the ability to love. They merely commit to another.”

“I don’t understand what love means, either.”

“That was why I didn’t want to take another body when Odin brought me here. I wanted to remember those feelings. I wanted to remember falling in love with Odin.”

“And you did? You fell in love?”

“Absolutely. And it’s a wonderful feeling.”

“Do you mind if I ask what it’s like?”

Melanie smiled as the carriage rattled along. “It’s such a magical feeling that it’s hard to describe. You want a person more than anything. You want to be near him, even if you’re not engaged in mating. I get a feeling in my chest like something is squeezing my heart, making it constrict until my chest feels tight.”

“I get that feeling!” Jane exclaimed, excited that there was a name for what she experienced whenever she was around Hermo’our. “It happens every time I get near …”

A flash of memory jolted her, and she stopped mid-sentence. A piece of machinery pinned a man to the ground. People gathered around him, trying to help him get out. Someone shouted,
We’re losing him!
More activity ensued until a man said,
Call it, Sally.
Jane knew that something was wrong, that her life had changed in that moment—or had it been before that moment when she’d met Tyr? The scene frightened her.

“You remembered something, didn’t you, Jane,” Melanie observed.

“I think I know where I was when Tyr came for me,” she admitted. “I think I had lost a loved one. Maybe my husband?”

“It’s possible, but I can’t tell you for sure. Tyr likely took his body before he died so he could mate with you on Earth. That seems to solidify the connection between the Cartonian and the human, and makes the human want to go away with him. You had no idea it wasn’t your husband when you two made love.”

“That’s it! He posed as my husband and abducted me. Tyr is an evil being, and I never want to see him again.”

“You won’t have to. Hermie will see that he doesn’t come near you.”

Chapter 8

She shouldn’t be there; Jane knew it, but she couldn’t let Hermo’our return for the coup without her. She needed to be there in case anything happened to him. Given her memory from Earth, she knew that she had been with one mate at the end. It was what she did; she stayed with her mate and comforted and encouraged him.

Princess Melanie had stayed at the palace on the other side of the mountain with three other servants, and she had begged Jane to stay as well, but Jane refused. This was something she must do.

Now Odin hid in the throne room, ready to pounce when it was time. This coup would never succeed because he had vowed not to let it. He insisted that he would thwart Fenrir before his cousin had a chance to even begin a take-over.

Hermo’our stood in the shadows near Jane’s hiding place. His hand clutched the hilt of his sword, ready to pull the weapon from its sheath in a moment’s notice.

Still unable to believe that these people were so backward in many of their methods, she stared at Hermo’our’s hand. His knuckles were nearly white they gripped the sword so tightly. Hand-to-hand combat seemed antiquated and dangerous to Jane. She had no intention of getting involved in that, but she would stay hidden in case Hermo’our needed her.

The door to the throne room opened, and in stormed Fenrir and Tyr. Odin bolted from hiding and took his place on the throne before Fenrir could react.

“Greetings, Fenrir,” Odin said as he stared down at the man with the fuchsia skin and wearing a bronze material jumpsuit. “May I help you?”

“You will get off the throne,” Fenrir said in a firm tone, “and you will turn it over to me.”

“That will not happen. Now leave.”

With a metal scraping on metal sound, Fenrir drew his silver weapon and pointed it at Odin. “Do not make me use this. I would rather settle this peacefully.”

“You brought your sword, cousin, so peacefully is not the way you wanted to do this. You hoped to have a confrontation with me to settle this forever.” Odin reached down beside him and pulled out his golden sword. “I will happily match with you if that is your goal.”

“You do not belong on the throne. If not for my grandfather abdicating, my father would have been king. Now it is my turn. I am not weak like my father. I will fight for my rightful place.”

“You know that your father did not want to rule Cartonia, nor did he think you would be a good ruler.”

“He was wrong. I would make a very good king. You are merely a prince.”

“I am only a prince because my grandfather honored yours and vowed never to call himself king. If I wanted the title of king, I could take it. I am honoring my father and my grandfather before him by not doing so. You do not want to fight me, cousin.”

“Actually, I do.”

“Do not do this,” Odin said. “You will regret it if you do.”

“I will never regret fighting for the throne on which I belong.”

Odin rose and brandished his sword at shoulder height. His golden blade glinted in the sunlight coming through the open window. Stepping down from the platform on which the thrones sat, Odin stood straight and tall.

Without another word, he strode over to Fenrir. Odin stood several inches higher than Fenrir and was many pounds heavier, and Jane had no doubt that he could easily overwhelm his cousin. Finally, they stood face to face, their swords raised, each waiting for the other to begin the fight.

This would not end well, Jane decided. One or the other would be dead, and the survivor would sit on the throne to gloat. Tyr stood near Fenrir, and many other soldiers waited nearby for their orders.

“Why would you do this after I gave you a castle and all of its furnishings and servants?” Odin asked.

“I do not need a consolation prize.”

Fenrir raised his sword and jabbed it at Odin, who skillfully dodged the sharply honed blade. Fenrir had acted the aggressor, but Odin did nothing to retaliate.

“I do not want to hurt you, cousin,” Odin said.

“Then give up the throne.”

“Never. Put down your weapon.”

“Never,” Fenrir said mockingly.

Odin took a backhanded swipe at Fenrir and cut his jumpsuit just above the abdomen. Blood seeped onto the bronze material. Fenrir lunged at Odin again, and Tyr drew his weapon, as well.

His sword already drawn, Hermo’our bolted from hiding and rushed Tyr.

“You will
not
take the throne from my father!” he cried as he lashed out at his friend.

Their swords clanked together as Tyr blocked a blow by Hermo’our. The weapons gnashed together as Tyr tried to twist the sword from Hermo’our’s hand. But Hermo’our held fast to his weapon.

Five soldiers rushed into the room from the hallway, but ten soldiers entered from behind the thrones. The melee began in earnest as the men fought for the monarchy.

Chapter 9

Jane could scarcely believe her eyes. It was like being in a Medieval movie set in the future. Swords clanged, and men cried out if they were injured or just angry.

Then a male scream pierced the air. She stepped out of hiding for a better view of what had happened. Holding his profusely bleeding right arm, Odin knelt on the floor. On the ground before him lay his hand and part of his arm as well as his sword. Looming over Odin, Fenrir raised his sword and pointed it down at Odin’s back.

“You will die!” Hermo’our shouted.

“No!” Jane screamed as she ran from her concealment.

Hermo’our drove his sword into Fenrir, who screamed in pain and dropped to the floor. A pool of blood grew around him. Tyr caught Jane as she passed and spun her into his grasp so quickly that she didn’t even realize what had happened at first. Cold, sharp metal pressed against her neck.

“Enough!” Tyr shouted next to her ear.

Everyone stopped and stared at him in shock.

“Go!” he ordered.

All of his soldiers who were alive left the room in an instant.

“Free her, Tyr,” Hermo’our insisted. “Take your uncle and leave, and we will let you go.”

“Odin has not said as much.”

“We will,” Odin agreed.

“If Hermo’our wants this female, he must take her from me,” Tyr said. “I offered her to him once, but she said she did not want him. I will not offer again. Now he must fight me and earn her.”

“Don’t do this,” Hermo’our pleaded. “I need her. Please, Tyr. We’ve been friends for a long time. Please, let her go.”

“Our friendship ended when you deceived me. You told me that you do not want her, just like she told me that she did not want you. But I know that was a lie. I saw you mating in the sitting room. You cannot deny it.”

Now Jane knew what the noise was that she heard. It was Tyr closing the door.

“I won’t deny it. Just let her go.”

“You may have her if you can stop me before I slit her throat. This is a long, sharp sword. It might cut through her neck and sever her head.”

Jane gasped at the thought. He wanted to behead her!

Then Hermo’our dropped his sword. It clattered to the floor. What was he
doing
? He was giving up when she needed him most. Hermo’our took a step toward Tyr—then another and another, slowly until he reached them.

“I will not fight you,” Hermo’our said. He grabbed Tyr’s arm and jerked it toward himself. “Jane, drop!”

Jane dropped to her stomach a moment before the sword moved again. She looked up and saw that now Hermo’our had the weapon, and he thrust it into Tyr’s abdomen with an upward motion. Tyr fell to the floor before her, his own sword piercing his body, his eyes glazed in death.

Scrambling to her feet, Jane flew into Hermo’our’s arms and hugged him tightly.

“Oh, God, Hermie,” she said, still panicked, “thank you. You saved my life. You’re my hero.”

“I love you, Jane,” he said. “I’m just glad that Mom told me what love is, or I wouldn’t have known. We need to mate again without it being in secret.”

“I love you, too, Hermie. But before we can be together, we need to help your father. I believe that you have effectively ruined any possible coup today. Tyr is probably dead, and Fenrir is likely headed the same direction.”

Hermo’our draped his arm around her neck and led her to his father, who lay unconscious on the floor.

***

Jane stood on the balcony with Hermo’our, Odin and Melanie and gazed down at the crowd beneath them. Then Odin spoke words that Jane never thought she would hear.

“People of Cartonia,” Odin said, “since I am no longer able to do everything a reigning prince must do, I wish to abdicate the throne. Forevermore my son, my hero, the rightful heir to the throne will be King Hermo’our and his mate will be Queen Jane. No longer will we bow to Fenrir and his ascendants. We and our descendents claim the throne for all eternity.”

THE END