Guarded by the alien, p.1
Guarded by the Alien, page 1
part #2 of Alien Protector Series
Guarded by the Alien
Dena Christy
Copyright © 2019 by Dena Christy
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Cover art by Croco Designs
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Epilogue
Author’s Note
Also by Dena Christy
Chapter 1
Liana Drake sighed as she set her drink aside and looked out over the glittering crowd. The brightest stars of Tari A’Veloo society were out tonight. This charity gala was the high point of the social season when those who thought they mattered most on the planet of Arrann Prime came out to shine, and Liana couldn’t bring herself to care.
Up until a few months ago she was looking forward to this event. Her beloved father was going to be her escort, and it was going to be a lovely evening that they would spend together. Unfortunately, her father was dead, and she had forced herself to face this evening without him.
She’d fooled herself into thinking that she was moving forward and going to this thing tonight would prove it. All it had proven was how keenly she missed her father.
A headache developed behind her eyes and despite the early hour, she decided it was time to end her evening. She didn’t have the stamina nor the desire to paste a smile on her face and engage in the inane conversation that was required at such an event.
She turned away from the crowd and walked toward the exit of the Valentin Hotel’s ballroom. There was little chance that she would be missed. She didn’t fool herself into thinking that she was so important that anyone would remark on her absence. She came from wealth, had married into wealth, but since her divorce her peers in the circles that she moved in thought she had lost her mind.
They could not imagine why any woman in her right mind would want to walk away from the handsome and wealthy Preston Hane.
The funny thing was that divorcing Preston was the most rational decision she’d made since before she’d agreed to marry him in the first place. But no one would see it that way because she thought perhaps she was the only person who’d seen her former husband for the man that he truly was.
She got to the entrance of the room, and a male member of staff bowed to her as he opened the door that led out of the ballroom. It took only moments for her to make her way to where she’d checked in her wrap, and once she retrieved it she went toward the sweeping staircase that took her down to the lobby.
There was a man standing in the lobby, staring up at her with one side of his mouth pulled up. He was handsome in his formal clothes, without a single blond hair out of place and any woman looking at him would have had her palms get damp and her pulse speed up. Anyone but her.
Her stomach clenched for a moment and then her lips tightened. Preston looked as handsome as ever, and as she came down the stairs, she remembered when she’d first met him six years ago. She’d been stunned that a man as handsome, as articulate and as charming as him had been interested in her. Now as she looked at him, she couldn’t believe that she’d ever been taken in by him.
His eyes were too calculating, his smile too shark like and the civilized manner he held himself with was much too fake for him to fool her again.
So much for avoiding him. Of all the people she didn’t want to see tonight, Preston headed the list. She’d dodged him effectively all night, but now it appeared her luck had run out since he stood between her and the door outside.
In the two years since their divorce she’d managed to stay out of his way. Unfortunately her social circle was still the same one he moved in, so avoiding him entirely was impossible. And lately it didn’t seem to matter where she went or what she did, Preston seemed to appear out of nowhere.
She reached the bottom of the stairs and the heels of her shoes clicked rapidly on the marble floor as she walked toward the door. She didn’t look at him, didn’t acknowledge him and she was hopeful that he would take the message that she didn’t want to engage with him.
The hardest thing she’d had to do tonight was turn her back on him since she’d learned early in their marriage that Preston was at his most dangerous when she relaxed her guard. But she did it anyway, because she had no desire to talk to him, not now and not ever. Her headache was getting worse and all she wanted to do was go home, get out of her dress and shoes and go to bed.
She made it as far as the sidewalk in front of the hotel when the hairs stood up on the back of her neck and her pulse sped up a little. The sharp smell of his cologne came to her. It was a smell that she’d once loved but had grown to despise. And she was conscious of the darkness creeping in where the lights at the front of the hotel didn’t reach. They were alone out here, and she knew well that his sophisticated facade melted away easily when it was dark and they were alone.
“You’re not leaving so soon, are you?” Preston’s smooth deep voice came to her from her right side, and his hand wrapped around her elbow. Liana tugged her arm away and hugged her wrap tighter around herself. She refused to look at him as she quickly swallowed and made sure no emotion showed on her face.
“I am. Don’t let me keep you away from the party.” Liana reached into her purse and pulled out her communicator. She quickly typed in a message to the driver she’d hired for the evening that she was ready to be picked up. She got confirmation back that it would take him at least a few minutes for him to get there, and she sighed as she put her device back into her bag.
“You know how tedious I find these people. Especially now.” He gave a suffering sigh, but if he was looking for sympathy, he was in the entirely wrong place. Any feelings she had for him other than fear and loathing had been decimated during her marriage to him. “Of course I’m sure it has been the same for you. I was sorry to hear of your father’s passing.”
Of all the things that Preston could be sorry about, the death of her father would not be one of them. Her father had not exactly been quiet about his disdain for Preston, especially when he’d seen what marriage to Preston had done to her. It was her father who had been responsible for extricating her from the disaster that her marriage had become.
“As I was to hear of yours.” Of all the people she would have expected to commit suicide, her former father-in-law, Remington, was not one of them. And now that the niceties had been observed he could now go on his way. “Perhaps you should go home too.”
“Perhaps we should go home together.” He reached out as he dragged a single finger down the back of her arm. A wave of revulsion went through her and she had to clench her teeth to keep it from shuddering through her.. It hadn’t always been like that. There was a time when she would have melted at his touch. But that was years in the past.
“I don’t think so.” She stepped to the side and wished her driver would hurry.
“You used to find contentment in my bed. Would it be so difficult for you to imagine finding it again? We’ve both suffered a loss. Don’t you find yourself in need of comfort?” He put his hand on her arm and turned her to face him.
There was no warmth in his eyes, and she knew he wanted her back in his bed because she’d had the audacity to leave it. She was not so naïve to believe he still had lingering feelings for her because she sincerely doubted he had deep feelings for her to begin with.
He’d always been persistent in pursing what he wanted. At first it was a trait that she’d admired, but now it wasn’t. Because what he seemed intent on pursuing was her. And she didn’t like it at all.
“What game are you playing, Preston? I’ve seen you more in the past few weeks than I’d seen you in the last six months of our marriage.” Tonight had not been the first time he’d tried to corner her somewhere but tonight was the first time he’d succeeded.
“What makes you think I’m playing a game?” His face was smooth, and she couldn’t read anything in his eyes. But she wasn’t fooled by it. She’d been married to him, had been intimately entwined in his life and she knew him well. She knew he was playing a game because Preston always played games.
“Whatever it is you’re looking for, you aren’t going to find it with me. I have no intention of ever returning to your bed, and as for finding comfort, if I find I need it I certainly won’t look to you for it.” She was taking a risk, talking to him like that. But despite the nerves quaking inside her, she straightened her spine. She tugged her arm and his grip became bruising as he refused to let her go. A wave of fear washed over her as she remembered how strong and ruthless he was when provoked.
“When did you turn into such a cold bitch?” Finally his face showed what he was feeling, and there was a sneer on his lips as he raked his eyes up and down her body.
There was a time when such a look from him would have reduced her to tears but not any more. Two years away from him had made her able to see throu gh his attempt at manipulation, despite the churning in her stomach. And she was not going to let him cow her into doing what he wanted.
“If you don’t like the way I am now, you have only yourself to blame. Why don’t you go find someone more accommodating to comfort you?” She yanked her arm again but he didn’t relinquish his hold. If anything his grip grew tighter and Liana fought to keep the wince off her face.
His other hand raised slightly and Liana braced herself for the hit she was sure was coming. Out of reflex she shrank away as his intimidation penetrated the armor she’d cloaked herself in since she’d escaped the hell he’d built for them during their marriage.
“Preston, we had hoped we hadn’t missed seeing you.” Relief poured through Liana when a couple she only vaguely recognized came out of the hotel and hailed Preston.
“I suggest you let me go. We wouldn’t want anyone to see the kind of man you really are, would we?” Her voice was a harsh whisper as she pulled her arm out of his grasp.
He glanced over at where the couple was standing and his hand fell away. His face smoothed out again, and it was like none of the ugliness that had been showing only a few seconds ago had been there. And fortunately her driver was pulling up in front of them and she would soon be away from his distasteful company.
“Have a good evening, Liana.”
She didn’t acknowledge that he’d spoken as her driver got out of the vehicle and opened the back door for her. She settled in the back seat, looped her arm through the seatbelt and it moved automatically around her, securing itself in place.
She glanced out the window, and saw that Preston was standing on the sidewalk, typing a message in his communicator before turning his attention to the couple who had inadvertently come to her rescue.
“He’s probably lining up this evening’s conquest,” Liana mumbled under her breath.
“I’m sorry, did you say something?”
The driver looked at her in the rearview mirror as the vehicle lifted off the ground several inches and glided away from the hotel.
“Just talking to myself.” Liana returned her attention to the window, and she was thankful that the driver seemed happy to keep silent. Being in her ex-husband’s company had done nothing for her headache.
She closed her eyes and pressed her finger tips against her temple. Perhaps she needed a change of scenery. Her father’s death a month ago had been a tremendous blow, and she had a desire to crawl in to bed. Tonight she had hoped going out would help her move through the pain of his loss. Running in to Preston had only made her more determined to get out of the city so she would not have to run into him every time she went out.
Perhaps time away was what she needed.
His head tossed on the pillow but he did not waken. He was home, on Thonax, at the market. His breath caught in his chest, when he saw his woman, Tala, looking at the fruit being offered by one of the vendors. Her hand was on her belly, and she looked over at where he stood with a soft smile on her face. His baby was making her crave fruit of the vilox tree, and he’d brought her here to pick out the piece she said the baby wanted.
The wind picked up suddenly, and she drifted away from him. He glanced around the market, his heart pounding. He couldn’t find her, didn’t see her. The sky was dark, and his heart slammed inside him as he found himself in the woods near his village. Why had she wandered so far from safety? He came to the spot that he dreaded most and he knew what he was going to see. Blood, so much blood.
Cale Arkon shouted the Thonaxian word for no when he bolted upright in his bed, his body covered with a cold sheen of sweat. It was three years since the horror of the day he’d discovered his mate ripped apart in the forest near their village.
Shoving the image away, he rolled over and punched his pillow. He closed his eyes, but all he saw was her lifeless body on the backs of his eyelids.
He hadn’t dreamed of her since he’d come to this planet two years ago, and had thought he was finally moving beyond her death. Why those old memories were stirring inside him he didn’t know, but laying here thinking about them would not make them any better.
A workout in the exercise room might be what he needed to purge the remnants of his nightmare and get back his equilibrium.
He got out of bed, quickly changed his clothing and grabbed his blade from the box on top of his chest of drawers. He padded down the hall in the direction of the exercise room when he noticed that Landis had his light on in his office.
He must not have been sleeping long when the dream started if Landis was still working.
He walked by the office and went into the exercise room. He stretched his body, and tried to focus his training but his brain didn’t want to let go of Tala’s image. He saw flashes of her in his mind’s eye, one of her at the market, so alive and happy, and the other in the shadow of the trees, lifeless and covered with blood.
With a growl of frustration Cale gave up on trying to do his training. It was not going to work. But he couldn’t figure out why he was dreaming of Tala now. It wasn’t like there was much stress in his life that would trigger the dreams.
He set the blade on the bench by the wet room, and went inside it. He stripped out of his clothes and stepped through the glass door enclosing the shower portion of the room. The sensors triggered warm water to fall from the ceiling and not for the first time since he’d come to this house, he marveled at how different things were here than they were back home.
When he’d left Thonax two years ago to embark on his career as a bodyguard, this was not how he imagined it. How could he have imagined such a place when all he knew was his small village, and living a simple life with his mate and his parents close by. It was the memories that place held for him that had driven him off his home planet and into the only career he was qualified for here.
He’d thought he would actually work to protect his client, but not so with Landis, whose greatest threat appeared to be wrist problems as a result of all the time he’d spent on the computer.
Once the sweat of the nightmare had washed away, Cale walked back out through the glass door and the water stopped. He took a towel from the compartment beside the glass partition and used it to dry himself off. At first, the quiet life Landis had lived had been the balm he needed to heal from his mate’s death. But now, there was a restlessness inside him which made him wonder if perhaps he wanted more from his life. More of a chance to prove his skills as a warrior.
The most excitement that had occurred during his time with Landis was when Rone and Cheria had come for help a little over a month ago. Finally, Cale had been able to do the job Landis was paying him for once they’d left the house for fear of the killer who’d murdered Landis’ father coming after him.
The killer was dead, the man responsible for sending him to them was as well. Now they were back home, and Cale was back to being less of a bodyguard and more of a paid companion. He did not wish any harm to come to Landis, but there was a restlessness inside him that wanted something more than what he was getting here.
With a shake of his head, he pulled on his clothes, grabbed his blade and left the exercise room. As he went down the hall, he saw the light was still on in Landis’ office. He turned into the room and saw Landis busy typing on his computer. He turned his head and jumped when he saw Cale standing by the door.
“I thought you went to bed.”
“I did, but could not sleep.” He did not go into why, and Landis didn’t ask. His employer carried a wound inside that he would not speak of, and Cale suspected that he did not ask Cale about what was troubling him because he did not want to talk about his own troubles.
Cale went to stand at his usual post, and Landis turned back to the computer.
“Well, I’m going to be heading for bed as soon as I finish this one thing.”
