Yce: Alien Abduction Romance (Captured By Aliens Book 3) Read online

  She had been engineered for him, made of sleek white metal just like the neurons that shone from underneath his skin.

  And now she was being ripped apart by the detestable Hedgerud fighters who worked under the High Tasqals.

  Logic had told him to abandon her, but he couldn’t. How could he abandon something that he loved?

  He was connected to her. More so than any of his brothers fighting for the Restitution realized. The Elysium’s AI was engineered to respond specifically to his neurons.

  She was a part of him.

  There was no way he could have left her for one of the escape pods. Not when there was a chance he could save her.

  As he worked, he almost forgot about the other being in the cockpit with him, which was strange. It just showed how intense his focus was on saving the Elysium.

  The other being was human. A human female.

  Why she’d stayed behind, he had no idea. Surely, her species had some sort of survival instinct. After all, the others of her kind had abandoned ship with his brothers. But this one, this one with hair like red hjeks, she had stayed behind.

  As he focused on the control panel, calibrating the ship’s central core so he could execute his plan for their escape, he could sense her hatred of the aliens swarming around them.

  He didn’t even need to read her mind.

  Maybe that’s why she’d stayed behind.

  Pure hatred.

  Perhaps she thought she could somehow exact revenge on the Tasqals by remaining on a doomed ship?

  Ridiculous.

  Her species was not only emotional, they were also illogical. Though she was silent at the moment, she was distracting, and he needed to remain focused.

  This was the precise reason why he preferred to work alone. He had enough voices in his head; he didn’t need physical company.

  Shaking his head, he brushed past her to the other side of the control panel.

  His plan was to direct all the remaining energy to the central core.

  Before the ship even informed them, he felt when she had lost her two supplemental engines. Plus, the main engine was down.

  That left only one engine.

  One chance.

  He’d need to direct all the energy to that one engine and blast them toward the surface. He couldn’t use the fuel tank. If they survived, he’d need that fuel for later.

  That meant his plan had to work.

  If it didn’t, then...

  He wouldn’t even consider it.

  He would fight to the death to save his ship.

  The human said something to him and it took a while for the words to permeate his thoughts.

  Glancing at her, her blue eyes met his and, for a moment, he remembered the first time he’d seen those blue eyes.

  He’d been in his cell on the Isclit ship. After he and his brothers had allowed themselves to be captured by the Isclits, they only had to wait to execute their plan.

  Xul had gotten a job with the Isclits months before and managed to be placed on the ship that was their target.

  It had been an incredibly complicated plan, but they had managed to achieve their two primary objectives.

  One: Kill Ulruq, one of the High Tasqal leaders.

  Two: Destroy the Isclit ship.

  What they hadn’t expected was for the Isclits to make a stop at a planet before he and his brothers had completed the mission.

  They’d stopped at a planet listed as HREX4X1…Earth, the humans called it. Coincidentally, the planet was in a system just a few light years away from his own planet.

  But he hadn’t expected the beings that they’d brought on board to be so…surprising.

  The females the Isclits had abducted were thrown in cells with the members of his team before the ship continued on its journey to another planet to abduct more beings.

  Only, the Isclits wouldn’t reach that other planet. Their mission would be completed before that could happen.

  But these humans…

  They’d thrown the hjek-haired one in his cell and he had immediately noticed something.

  She would be distracting.

  Despite being chained as they’d carried her along, the little human had been fighting and squirming, lashing out at the Hedgerud guards despite having had no weapons, no body armor, and nothing to defend herself.

  When she’d been thrown in the cell and focused her icy blue eyes on him, the image she’d cast on his mind he’d remember for a long time.

  She’d looked utterly, undeniably, mad.

  She had been ready to fight him too, even though he hadn’t attacked her.

  He’d noticed something else too.

  Her face had no discerning features. She had no horns. No neurons glowing under her skin. No ridges on her forehead. No gem in her head. Nothing.

  Her face was unbelievably…simple.

  But despite her madness, it was that exact simplicity that made her absolutely striking.

  It was hard to explain.

  Wild blue eyes contrasted with hjek-colored hair and he realized with immediate effect that there was beauty in her simplicity.

  The human looked nothing like he had expected her to look.

  She was small. Soft. Beautiful—despite that she’d daubed mud all over her body as some form of camouflage.

  Added to the hjek hair, blue eyes, and her obvious fighting spirit, he knew there was no way he’d be able to focus one-hundred percent on the mission while in her presence.

  That’s why he preferred to work alone.

  That’s how it had always been…

  His brothers in the Restitution understood this and gave him his space.

  But these humans…these humans had been unexpected.

  So, he’d been stuck with her then. And now he was stuck with her again.

  He’d seen what had happened with his brother Xul.

  Xul had somehow fallen for the human he’d been with. And Crex, of all people, the Ceqtaq seemed to have fallen for the human that had been thrown into his cell—so much so that he almost blew the entire mission in an effort to protect her.

  Such a thing would never happen to him.

  He would not allow himself to be swayed by these unexpected beings.

  No, that wouldn’t happen.

  Another shudder of the Elysium brought him back to the present and he realized he hadn’t answered the human.

  Locking eyes with her wild gaze, he instructed her that she’d have to steer the ship. Surely, she could manage such a task.

  If he’d been alone, he’d have had to connect his mind with the Elysium’s AI to handle that part of the landing while he operated the thrusters. But maybe with her here, she could help.

  As the Elysium tilted and shot towards Muk’s atmosphere, he glanced at the human beside him one last time.

  If they managed to survive this, he’d have to figure out how he was going to deal with her constant presence.

  Chapter Three

  The speed of entry and the planet’s gravity pulled her toward the glass surrounding the cockpit. As Diana pulled herself toward the pilot’s seat, it felt as if her own body weight was working against her. It was difficult and felt incredibly slow, but when she finally got to the seat, buckled herself in, and grabbed the yoke, she suddenly felt surer of herself.

  “I’m directing any energy we have left to the thrusters to slow our descent. Your job is to steer. Try to keep her nose up and stay away from the dunes.”

  Her? So he saw the Elysium as a woman.

  Kind of like how some men babied their cars?

  Nodding without a word, Diana cracked her knuckles.

  Here we go.

  Never mind that this was real-life Space Invaders, Diana grabbed the yoke and pulled hard.

  It was in every movie scene where a plane was about to crash. The pilot would pull the yoke towards himself to lift the aircraft into the air. She only hoped the Elysium worked the same way. But the speed of their approach was almost
blinding as air compression caused the front of the spaceship to glow with a fiery light.

  She could still see the fighter jets swarming around them, and for a second, she wondered if the Elysium’s sudden burst of speed was even going to help them escape. But as they approached the dull brown of the planet’s surface, she noticed the fighter jets were dropping off one by one—retreating to the depths of space where they belonged.

  But one problem solved didn’t mean another wasn’t staring them in the face.

  The ship was heading to the surface fast, too fast.

  “I can’t pull her up!” she shouted, mildly aware of Yce’s movements around her. He was still pressing buttons and pulling levers, his concentration on what he was doing and not on the scene in front of her.

  All she could see was brown. Just brown. It looked like sand, so that shouldn’t be too bad if they hit it directly, right?

  But still, entering at the speed at which they were going would be like falling flat against a rock face.

  “Come on!” Diana screamed, bracing her back against the seat. Feet pressed against the control panel for more leverage, she pulled as hard as she could on the yoke. “It’s not slowing down!”

  “Thrusters activating now,” Yce said as he hopped into the seat beside hers. With a glance at her, he did something that seemed to have an immediate effect.

  “I can’t help you steer,” he said. “I have to control the thrusters manually. The Elysium is barely hanging on. None of her systems are working. Can you handle it?”

  “Do I have a choice?!” She knew she was shouting but she couldn’t help herself. The sound of blood rushing in her ears was enough to make her go deaf.

  As he worked the thrusters, she finally felt the yoke respond to her demands. The ship swayed a bit as it slowed down a little.

  “Keep pulling,” he said.

  “No, I was planning on letting go.” She spoke through gritted teeth.

  “Well, don’t.”

  Apparently, he didn’t go to sarcasm school.

  She didn’t have time to roll her eyes as she was literally looking at death in front of her.

  The surface seemed so close now; they only had a few minutes before impact.

  “Impact in ten…nine…” The Elysium said.

  Okay. Maybe not minutes. Maybe only seconds.

  “Keep pulling!” Yce raised his voice and Diana cut him a look.

  What did it look like she was doing?

  She was breathing hard as she pulled on the yoke and, finally, the ship seemed to slow down enough for the yoke to respond more easily.

  “Steer now. Avoid the dunes.”

  Dunes?

  She hadn’t seen them before, but he was right. There were several of them, appearing from what had first looked like a flat brown surface. But, as they approached, the definition of the terrain became clear.

  There were dunes everywhere, dotting the ground in almost every free spot.

  Avoid the dunes?

  Was he looking at the same surface she was? There was no way to avoid the frickin’ dunes!

  Turning the yoke left and right, the ship swerved as she tried to spot an area that was relatively vacant, but all she could see was lumps, and lumps, and more lumps—dunes everywhere.

  “We have to land as softly as we can. Otherwise, the impact will ignite the fuel tank and we will…” Yce trailed off and Diana gulped.

  Yes. A fiery death. It seemed the options of how to die hadn’t changed from those presented a few minutes ago.

  He must have seen the look on her face because he continued, “The thrusters will help. Just avoid the dunes.”

  Just avoid the dunes.

  Again, she wondered if he was seeing what she was seeing. Maybe he was blind. Maybe his eye condition made his eyes white? But she knew he wasn’t blind. Well…maybe he was just a dumbass then.

  But as they approached, steering became a little easier. Whatever he was doing was working. The thrusters were slowly stabilizing the ship and, as long as she steered well, they just might make it out of this alive.

  “Four…three…two…one,” the ship counted down.

  The impact was hard, and if it weren’t for the seatbelts holding her securely to the seat, she would have been plastered across the screen like an unfortunate fly on a windshield.

  As her body jolted forward, Diana struggled to keep control of the ship. The whiplash hurt and, as the vessel lifted into the air once more, she only had time to take a breath before it slammed into the surface again, rose into the air, and slammed down again as they skidded across the sand.

  It was almost impossible to see where they were going with the torrent of sand now being thrown across the screen. But she tried.

  She had to.

  They were still going fast, the speed making everything to the sides a complete blur.

  She managed to just about miss some of the dunes, preventing the Elysium from crashing directly into them, but she was sure the wings of the vessel either sliced through them or were broken off by the impact because the dunes were way too close.

  As they skidded for what felt like a full kilometer, the ship finally came to a halt.

  “Damage impact: ninety-eight percent,” the Elysium said.

  Ninety-eight percent. But they were alive.

  They were alive!

  Diana felt her chest heave as she breathed hard.

  They’d made it.

  Turning wild eyes to the alien beside her, she found his white gaze was already on her.

  “Well done,” he said before rising and flipping some switches.

  The alarm blaring in the ship died and the deep red light that flooded its halls was replaced by a dim yellow.

  “We have to move,” he said, already heading from the cockpit.

  Right.

  There wasn’t any time to take a breather. She was sure the Tasqals would be coming after them shortly. They were escapees running for their lives, after all.

  Yce was already grabbing things from compartments and pushing them into what looked like a cloth bag before she caught up with him.

  Looking around the room, she realized they were in some sort of storage area.

  Things were strewn everywhere and she was surprised the space was even intact.

  Snatching a cloth bag that was hanging on the wall, she began opening compartments too.

  In one, she found a sort of knife. Grabbing it, she stuffed it into the bag and began searching for more things. Whatever she found that may be useful, she stuffed into the bag. There was a small first-aid kit and some packets of what could only be food. There was a cloth she assumed could be used as a towel too.

  “Come.” She heard his voice just as she put the last item in the bag.

  When she turned, the blue alien was already leaving the room, the only image being his long white hair swaying as he hurried to wherever he was going to next.

  Rushing behind him, she caught up with him at the door of the ship.

  “Wait!”

  He paused and turned to face her, his white eyes unreadable.

  “What if we can’t breathe out there?”

  “This is Muk. Its atmosphere is hospitable to your kind.” He paused. “And mine.”

  He turned and pressed a button by the ship’s door.

  Well then, she’d just have to take his word for it.

  As the door of the ship opened and the alien stepped out, Diana followed him.

  She’d expected many things, but what she didn’t expect was the blazing heat that suddenly hit her.

  Glancing up into the sky, her eyes widened a little.

  There were two suns, one much larger than the other.

  Her mouth fell open a little as she stared at them.

  It was a spectacular sight.

  Yce seemed to raise his head and sniff the air a little.

  “A sandstorm is heading our way.” His voice seemed to float to her ear and she turned her attention to him.
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br />   “A sandstorm?” She glanced around them.

  How did he know that? The place seemed relatively calm. Deserted, even.

  The pun wasn’t lost on her.

  “Yes,” he said. “It will reach us soon.”

  “Then maybe we shouldn’t abandon ship just yet. I thought you stayed with the Elysium to protect it.”

  He turned to her, his hair swaying as he did and she was immediately struck by the fact that he was frickin’ handsome. He looked like a Greek god. It was hard not to stare.

  “The sandstorm will cover her. She will be hidden. Safe.” Yce glanced at the ship and only then did Diana step away to look at it.

  “Holy shit,” she breathed. That was what she had been in?

  The entire back half of the ship was a mangled mess and there were bits and pieces hanging from it everywhere. The nose of the ship where they’d been safe was buried in the sand and what she’d call the wings were bent into weird positions.

  “Damn,” she uttered. The ship was no longer the sleek white spectacle she’d first seen. It was done for—its last act of duty being to get them out of danger. For that, she thanked it.

  “The Elysium will survive,” he said, as if reading her mind. “For now, we must leave her here and head for one of the Muk outposts. Let’s move.”

  Diana’s brows furrowed slightly.

  Was he always so bossy? If they had to do this together, that would have to change.

  Throwing the cloth bag over her shoulder, her bare feet sunk into the sand as she followed behind him.

  She’d had time to find only a shirt and cargo-type pants before they’d been attacked, but there’d been no spare shoes on the ship.

  Now, as she trudged behind him, the hot sand burned the soles of her feet.

  Gritting her teeth, she glanced up at the twin suns.

  They were a nice sight, yes, but shit, because of them the sand was like walking on hot coal.

  Hissing, she noticed the alien in front of her was scanning the skies as he walked and she did the same.

  There was no telling when the Tasqals would come after them. It could be now or it could be tomorrow but the fact was that they were out in the open and, as far as she could see, there was nowhere to hide. It was only desert as far as the horizon.