Sex, Love, and Aliens, Volume 1 (15 page)

Brae put her hand gently on Kateri’s belly. “This place was dead, but now it’s alive. You didn’t just give this little one life, you gave it back to me and Ric.”

Kateri put her hand over the wrinkled one resting on her belly. “I could claim the same of you and Ric. I grew up waiting to die. I never really started living until I came here.”

They swung gently and sipped the flavorful drinks as the ship came back and the young pilot landed with precision.

A while later, Kateri watched her husband transport the pilot back to the gate and wondered if they finally had the right person for
Earth Spirit
. She anxiously waited for the verdict. Ric came up the steps and took the cup from her hands without preamble. He scooped her up and she gasped.

“Put me down or you’ll hurt yourself,” Kateri insisted. He didn’t obey. He never did. “How is the pilot? Hired?”

“Kid was brilliant. Yes, I hired him.”

“Are you sure you don’t want to pilot the ship yourself?” she queried softly.

Ric took the stairs to the bedroom two at a time, and she clung to his neck, terrified he’d fall and drop her. He kicked the door open and laid her on the bed.

He started unbuttoning her shirt. She wore Metrician clothing now, but the most modest styles she could find. Watching his fingers working the buttons, she said nothing as he placed a kiss over where their child slept. He gazed down at her and she saw the hunger in his bright, happy eyes.

“I’ve spent my whole life looking for something I didn’t have here. I searched the stars for that unattainable elusive thing, but the moment I saw your face I realized you were what I’d been waiting for.” He chuckled before sucking one of her extra sensitive nipples into his mouth. She jerked and cried out. Ric released her with a loud
pop
. When she looked up at him, his expression was mysterious. “You are my universe.”

And they made love perfectly as he proved the truth of his words.

About Ashlynn Monroe

Ashlynn Monroe is a busy working mom. She loves her kids and family. Her greatest joy is creating stories to entertain others, and she hopes they bring a little more romance into the world. She’s been writing since her teens, for her own enjoyment, but decided in her thirties to share her imagination with readers. Ashlynn enjoys biking, camping, reading, video games, and filling her home and life with love. If she’s not working or chasing her children, you can find her daydreaming up her next tale of romance.

Ashlynn’s Website:

www.ashlynnmonroe.com

Reader eMail:

[email protected]

His Human

by Jaye Shields

Can a human clone trained to kill also learn to love?

Elara Roberts is the captain of a space shuttle sent to retrieve a group of cloned soldiers from the planet US-2. As soon as she lands, the shuttle is overtaken and all of her men killed.

Svarog aka Rogue, is the leader of a rebel group of clones who desire freedom. He’s been trained his entire life for one thing—to kill. But when he lays eyes on Elara, the only woman he’s ever seen, his first instinct is to love. Taking her for himself, his new mission becomes exploring the body of the creature, and punishing any other clone male who dares come close.

Elara witnessed how easily Rogue killed her men and fears she is next. But instead, the beast seems curious and more lustful than anything else. Her best survival strategy is to play along. But when she gets a chance to escape she realizes she may not be ready to leave Rogue behind.

Content Warning: this story includes a deadly, devastatingly sexy clone who isn’t above foul language and dirty sex

Dedication

No story I have written has been without the support and cheerleading of my mom. His Human is no different. As always, thank you so much to my mother. She’s my number one fan, and I am hers.

Acknowledgements

Without the professional staff at Beachwalk Press, especially the careful editing and input of Pamela Tyner, I would be lost.

In addition, I would like to mention the other wonderful Beachwalk authors that work so well together and are always supporting each other in their publishing endeavors. Specific to this book I would like to thank Ashlynn Monroe, Imogene Nix, and Beth Carter for their hard work and lusty imagination that made Volume One of
Sex, Love and Aliens
possible.

Chapter 1

The smooth touchdown of the space shuttle onto planet US-2 earned Captain Elara Roberts a round of applause from her crew. The barren planet may be sparse, but jagged peaks and cavernous sinkholes littered the landscape like booby traps. After completing her post-flight system check, Elara powered down the shield and was finally able to peer through the window with her own eyes. The sun glinted off the white rock, searing her eyeballs.

“Damn!” Even with the solar shield employed, her eyes watered. “How do the clones survive here?”

Mission leader Lewison leaned past Elara’s seat to take in the view. “They were born here so they’re more acclimated than we are. Poor bastards. Doesn’t exactly look like paradise.”

Elara sucked in a deep breath before unfastening her belts. The
poor bastards
Lewison spoke of were the clones—humans harvested from birth on the United States owned craphole of a planet, US-2. As far as the history tomes read, the clone program was drafted in 2002, a special addendum to the Patriot Act. In preparation for an age when the US wouldn’t have the supply of soldiers necessary to remain a military power, cells were taken from every man that enlisted in the military. Once a livable planet could be claimed by the United States, scientists immediately began raising farms of clones. The US never needed to retrieve its slave army. Until now.

The yoke trembled beneath Elara’s fingertips. “I don’t remember reading about earthquakes on US-2.”

“That’s because there are none.” Angela, the mission geologist, glanced at Elara with a look of sheer panic in her eyes.

Elara climbed out of her seat, but the shuttle rocked, sending her to the floor.

“Soldiers at the ready!” Lewison yelled to the young men, an urgency in his voice making Elara wonder what the hell he knew that she didn’t. She watched the men climb out of their flight stations and grapple for their ground military gear.

“What the hell is going on? Should I ready for re-launch?”

“No, this is the mission. Get the shields back up!”

Elara glanced at her first officer Hurley who appeared equally confused. He leaned forward to peer through the window at the ground. Glass shattered, tiny flecks of it embedding in Elara’s cheek. She screamed when a bullet hole burrowed right through Hurley’s eye socket.

Fighting the urge to vomit, Elara reached for the shield activator. Her fingers trembled so hard she couldn’t hit the tiny button in a sea of so many. Panic made the tiny lit up knobs look like stars in a dark sky.
Focus.

“Screw the shields, open the door!” Lewison bellowed over the sound of groaning metal.

Elara obeyed, but when she did, all hell broke loose. An explosion of light burned through the cabin as soon as the door lowered to the ground, creating a ramp. She couldn’t see, but the cracks of gunfire ricocheting off the walls made her wonder if she wanted to. But if she couldn’t see, neither could the soldiers aboard her shuttle…

“Elara!” Lewison’s voice hollered over the ruckus. “Duck and go for cover! You too, Angela! If they find you—” The words were choked, followed by a horrific gurgling sound.

“Lewison!” she screamed, but she knew the commander was either dead or severely injured. Following his last order, she crawled beneath her flight panel, the body of her first officer still slumped over it.

As her eyes adjusted, she finally was able to take in the nightmare. The shuttle was filled with fighting bodies and occasional gunfire despite the confined quarters. The bodies of the men that had traveled to US-2 now littered the floor, trampled on by others still battling. Finally, it sank in. The clones had overtaken the shuttle. Recognized easily by their tanned skin from US-2’s closer proximity to the sun, they looked like any regular Joe, except all were tall, over muscled, and strapped with enough weapons to start World War XXV.

That’s when she saw him. He towered at seven feet of hard muscle with skin the color of burnt honey and eyes as blue as glacier ice. A white cap stretched over his head as if to block the sun, the rest of his granite body covered only in military cargo shorts and a white tank. Every weapon strapped to his body was already covered in blood, and yet she didn’t see a scratch on him. She trembled as she watched him survey the battle taking place on board her ship. A satisfied sneer on his face made Elara realize just how grave her situation was. She could only hide so long.

Then the icy, murderous gaze fell on her. Elara knew her life was over.

* * * *

Svarog surveyed the successful takeover of the space shuttle that had been sent to take his men captive. Raised from infancy to be nothing more than a perfect killing machine, he was insulted that these men from Earth thought it would be anything but a bloodbath.
For them.

For generations, the clones lived and died on the hellish planet, passing down warnings to each new batch of clones that one day the time would come when they’d be used for Earth’s selfish use. Living on US-2 wouldn’t have been so horrible if he hadn’t been brainwashed from infancy about the beauty and glory of the land of the United States on planet Earth. He and his men longed to see it, but not as slaves. As the
free men
that he’d always heard so much about. Now he and his comrades would take their chance.

One of the Earthlings leapt toward him through the fray with a knife, clearly out of ammunition. Deciding fair was fair, Svarog reached out and caught the puny Earth soldier by the neck. He squeezed until the young man’s veins nearly exploded beneath his tight grip. The battle continued around him as the soldier dangling off the ground struggled to loosen Svarog’s vise-like grip. He sneered. “I’ll have what you had, Earthling. Now you’ll have death.” Ending the man’s struggle, Svarog clenched his fist even tighter, breaking the man’s neck.

The body crumpled to the ground and joined the lifeless heaps of other Earthlings. Svarog scanned the shuttle. It was filled with so much death—it was a moment he’d been waiting for his whole life.

Suddenly, eyes hidden in a dark crevice tore his attention away from all else. Thick lashes framed a color he’d never seen before on his planet, a vivid green that he’d heard describing forests on Earth, shiny emeralds, twisting seas. The description of the color couldn’t compare to seeing its beauty now. Slowly, the darkness of the Earthling’s hiding space lightened under his vision. The body was small and built with soft curves. Something else he’d never seen before—a woman.

His body went taut in response, his shaft swelling so rigid that it pained him. He stood silent for a moment, in awe at this woman’s presence, until the battle calmed around him, a clear sign of victory.

His comrade called out, “Rogue, look what I’ve found!”

Svarog, called Rogue by his men, looked to see another woman dangling from a soldier’s grip. Her hair was short and blonde, like a man, but her body petite, her face carved by pale pink lips and frightened blue eyes.

“A woman. Spoils meant for our victory celebration this eve.”

His men cheered in response.

She struggled, but when she couldn’t get anywhere, spit in Morgun’s face. The soldier dropped her, but cracked her hard enough across the face to send her unconscious to the floor. The other men laughed, but Svarog grit his teeth, deciding that if he’d been given the gift of soft flesh, he wouldn’t mar it. He glanced back to the dark crevice where the other woman still lay hidden, but when he did, she launched at Morgun.

“You bastard!” Her voice echoed through the shuttle, a high-pitched battle cry laden with angst. Almost as if she’d never seen violence before today.

Svarog quickly intercepted her before she could face Morgun’s wrath. The woman wriggled in his grip, but he tossed her easily over his shoulder. “I’ll take this one.”

“We should all share her, like the other one.” Morgun glared his way, receiving cheers of agreement from the other men.

Heat lit his veins like fire, a possessive need of the woman clashed with the anger of being questioned. “You all would not have any woman if not for me. You dare question me?” He strode up to Morgun, glaring down at him as the woman still wriggled in his grip, pounding fists at his back.

Morgun’s jaw clenched, and it was obvious he was biting back words. After all, it was Svarog who’d risked his life the week past, sneaking into the head military compound, assassinating their Earthling controllers.

Svarog stepped back to address the other men and flung the woman down on the ground, gripping her tightly by the neck against his chest. “Of course I will share her.” Resounding cheers followed the proclamation. “But I will have her first.”

The woman continued to flail in his grip until suddenly, her knee jerked between his legs. His free hand caught her leg, yanking so she fell to the ground. Her tiny body hit the floor of the shuttle with a thud, his men laughing in response.

Her green eyes watered for a moment, perhaps from a pain she was unaccustomed to, but then they narrowed on him. “You’ll have me over my dead body.”

Laughter exploded once more. Svarog retrieved her from the floor, her escape cut off by his soldiers. Collaring her neck with his fist, he gazed into the emerald color that nearly mesmerized him. Her long red hair fell around his hands, a soft caress that nearly made him drop her. A woman, his for the taking.

“Correction, Earthling, I will not kill you. Women are non-existent on this planet.” Hunger ate away at his patience, seeming to ignite a new fear in the woman’s eyes. “My name is Svarog, but my men call me Rogue. And I will be the one to break you, Earthling woman.”