Hunted by the Alien Read online

  She wasn't going to think about that right now. She was going to take a shower and wash off the fear that had coated her body in sweat. Then she was going to need to speak to Xander and tell him that the information was much too hot. What he decided to do with it was his problem, all she knew was that she was done with this particular job.

  She walked down the hall to the bathroom and put the wig where it belonged, on the ornate metal wig stand she'd had made for it.

  She pushed the door and saw that her robe was not on the hook on the back of the door. She must have left it in her bedroom when she'd gotten ready this morning. With a sigh she turned, walked out of the bathroom and into her bedroom.

  A scream ripped out of her when she saw the huge male figure standing beside her bed.

  "There is no need to scream."

  His voice was a deep, accented rumble and she froze in place as she took in the sight of him. He was huge, but held no weapons unless his bulging muscles could be considered lethal. Her mouth went dry for a second.

  She straightened her spine, determined to stay strong and not fall apart into a blubbering, begging mess. She'd already been through too much shit today to weaken now.

  "I think there is every need to scream. You are an intruder in my home and I'm certain the authorities would be very interested in what you're doing here. Particularly since the state of my bed says that your purpose has been some sort of perversion."

  Judging by his size and the color of his skin, he was most certainly a Thonaxian. They weren't known to be thieves or perverts, but perhaps he'd gone rogue. She shoved out of her mind what his species was known for, because she always made sure that when she was on a job she covered her tracks and there was no way that he was here because of what happened at the hotel.

  Juno Moneta could not be connected to her. She'd been doing this job a long time, and had learned how to hide her true identity from a master.

  He crossed his arms over his massive chest and the corner of his mouth turned up. A shiver went down her spine because this was not the face a someone who feared the authorities. Perhaps not a rogue after all. And she ignored how that small movement of his full lips softened his hard face.

  "You are certainly free to call the authorities. They will be very interested in knowing why I am here, and it is not to rob you or hurt you in any way." He didn't look the least bit worried about her threat. "If you are certain you have nothing to hide, call them."

  Ice flowed through Cheria's veins but she fought with everything inside her to keep from letting any emotion show on her face. Her threat to call for help had been a bluff, because she didn't want to be on the authorities radar for any reason, even if it was to report an intruder. He seemed to know she had no intention of following through on her threat.

  "I have no idea what you're talking about. Please get out of my home." Her hand trembled slightly as she pointed to the door and she watched him carefully. She fought to calm her nerves. He said his reason for being here wasn't to hurt her, and she believed him. If it had been, he would have pounced on her the second she walked in her bedroom door. Perhaps she could persuade him to go with something other than threats to call the authorities. "Look, I have krills. I'll give them to you if you just leave."

  Please let it be that easy to get rid of him. She had fifty thousand krills in an envelope in her pocket and she could afford to part with some of them if it meant seeing the back of him.

  "I have no need for your money. Like I told you, I am not here to rob you and I am not here to hurt you. I need you to come with me."

  A shrill laugh burst out of Cheria. Like that was going to happen.

  "I'm not going anywhere with you. Get out of my home." She jabbed her index finger toward the door and despite her frayed nerves she used the firmest voice she could muster. It didn't make even the slightest impression on him.

  Fuck, what am I supposed to do now.

  There was no way she could physically remove him, since he was huge and his species were known to be fierce fighters.

  "It seems we are at an impasse. I am not leaving here, and you will not go with me. What do you think we should do about that?"

  "There is no we in this scenario. There is you, who will leave my home before I call the authorities to have you removed and there is me, who will go about her evening without a care in the world once you've gone." She moved further into the room. If she couldn't get him to be reasonable then she had to think of something else to persuade him to go. And there was a little something in the top drawer of her dresser that could be very persuasive, even against someone as big and intimidating as him.

  He reached out with a swiftness that surprised her and wrapped his massive hand around the top of her arm. A short, sharp cry ripped from her as she tugged her arm. His grip was firm but it was like he was aware of his strength and tempered it so that her flesh was not hurt by him.

  "What are you doing?" He towered over her and her eyes were level with his chest. She swallowed as her eyes traveled up to his face and she looked into his silver colored eyes. Under any other circumstances she would appreciate the beauty of those eyes, but now was not the time.

  "Let go of me." She pulled her arm again, and to her surprise he let her go. "Why don't you tell me what it will take to make you go away?"

  "I am here to collect you. I want you to come with me."

  So he kept saying. He didn't seem to be getting the message that she was not going anywhere with him. Telling him again that it wasn't going to happen would not get her the answers that she wanted, so she decided to get to the reason behind his standing in her bedroom.

  "What possible reason would you have to collect me? As far as I know I don't have an appointment with anyone that requires an escort."

  "There is a bounty on you and I am here to collect you and take you to Tusko M'Kedi. It would be best if you cooperated with me."

  Best for who? Certainly not for her.

  This was impossible. There should be no way that any of her work could be traced back to her. She was diligent about protecting her true identity to the point of paranoia. But despite her diligence, the fact that he was here in her apartment told her that something had gone wrong, and the more information she had about it, the easier it would be for her to rectify whatever mistake she'd made in the future once she managed to elude him.

  "Why would there be a bounty on me?" She could think of several reasons, but pretending they didn't exist was her best defense. Perhaps she could make him think that he'd made a mistake. As far as any official records on Cheria Warders were concerned, she was the most law abiding of citizens.

  He looked at her with a raised brow. "Pretending ignorance will not sway me from what I must do. But just so that we are both at a place of understanding, I will tell you why I have come. Earlier today you were at a hotel in your capacity as a courier and since it is a corporation that issued the bounty, I will assume that you left the hotel with something that belongs to them. And you also left behind a dead body."

  Cheria swayed for a second as the room around her faded for a second. Fear rose up to strangle her and she struggled to breathe.

  No.

  This couldn't be happening. How could he know about the hotel and have tracked her back here? She'd used her alias and the fake address that was attached to that name. This was impossible. As denial screamed in her head, she calmed herself sufficiently enough to speak.

  "There must be some mistake. I am not a courier." It seemed futile to keep up with the lie but she had no choice. She could not admit what she was, not to him. Mistaken identity must happen with bounties sometimes and if she could convince him that she was not the one he was looking for perhaps she could get out of this.

  "There is a bounty on the head of Juno Moneta. Are you denying that you are her?"

  So the bounty was on the alias. A spark of hope went through her. There was a way she could get out of this after all.

  "I am denying it. I've never
heard of this Juno Moneta person." She smiled at him. "I understand that you're only doing your job. Mistakes happen, so if you leave quietly now I'll forget this happened and won't make a complaint with your employer about you breaking into my home."

  He smiled back at her, and a funny feeling tickled the center of her spine. He reached into the pocket of his black, combat style pants and she took a step back with her hands in the air. Had she misread his intentions? Was he going to hurt her after all?

  He paused for a moment with his hand in his pocket.

  "I told you I would not hurt you." He pulled a piece of folded paper out of his pocket. He handed it to her and she opened it. Shock slammed through her like the hammering of a fist. "Earlier today, you went to a hotel in your capacity as a courier, and registered under the name Juno Moneta. This is a surveillance photo from that hotel. As you can see, despite the different hair color and style, it is you in the photo. The bounty is being offered for a woman who is clearly you. Juno is an alias, isn't it, Cheria?"

  Her eyes burned into the paper she held in her hand as panic raced through her blood. Despite how careful she'd been, he had her picture and he knew her real name. He knew her real address. And he was going to take her away from here, and she knew that if he did, if he delivered her to the corporation who issued the bounty, she was going to be as dead as the client found in the hotel suite.

  "Please, don't do this. I will do anything, give you anything if you don't do this." Her voice was a stark plea. He looked uncomfortable for a moment, as if he wasn’t sure how he should handle this latest turn of events.

  "I am sorry, but I will not be dissuaded. I have a job to do, and it is nothing personal."

  She swallowed as her mind scrambled for what she should do. She couldn't walk out of her home with him.

  She glanced at her dresser and she knew the answer to her problem was sitting in the top drawer. All she had to do was get to it and the big problem he represented would go away. A smile pulled up the corner of her mouth as she looked at him. He wasn't going to know what hit him.

  * * *

  Why was she smiling at him like that?

  This woman was mercurial in her moods, going from demanding to pleading in a matter of moments. He was grateful she had stopped looking at him with fear in her big blue eyes as she pleaded with him not to take her away. Nothing in his life had prepared him to say no to a frightened, pleading female. It would be interesting to see what direction she decided to go in now that she'd seen begging wouldn't work.

  She reached up and undid the top button of her blouse. She looked flushed, perhaps she was warm and was trying to cool herself.

  When she undid the second button, very slowly, like a lover intent on teasing her partner, he realized she was going to attempt to bribe him with an entirely different currency than the one she'd offered a few minutes ago.

  A flush heated his skin as she slowly undid the third button. He should have considered that she would use this tactic and it had gone far enough.

  "What do you think you are doing woman? Do you think to seduce me? You are wasting your time, since your charms will not work on me." Despite the conviction in his voice, he wasn't sure his body would be as convinced if she chose to take this charade any further.

  She paused with her fingers on the fourth button as her eyes moved slowly up and down his body. She pursed her lips for a second as she slipped the fourth button free.

  "Don't flatter yourself." A smirk crossed her face as she raised her hands out to her side for a moment. It parted the fabric of her blouse, giving him a glimpse of the undergarment that was underneath. "I surrender. You caught me. I'm just going to change into something more comfortable for traveling."

  She finished off the last of the buttons and dropped her blouse to the floor, but seemed in no hurry to cover herself or turn away.

  Despite his honor, which told him to look away, his eyes went to where her plump breasts were pushed up by her flesh colored undergarment. And he was reminded how long it had been since he had enjoyed a sexual release. So much for being immune to her charms.

  He averted his gaze and the muscle worked in his jaw. Angis had chosen him for this job for this very reason and he was not going to give into his baser instincts. Any other bounty hunter would have taken her actions as an invitation to avail themselves of what she was offering. Despite his initial reluctance to take this job, he could see the reasoning behind Angis' decision to assign it to him.

  Once he had delivered her to Tusko M'Kedi he would engage the services of a sex provider to purge the need she had awakened inside his body before he traveled home to find a mate..

  It took all his willpower to keep from looking directly at her until she turned her back and went over to her chest of drawers. A small spurt of relief went through him as she turned his gaze back to her and her back was to him.

  He felt like he had been given some sort of test and come through it a stronger man. She was tempting but he'd managed to resist even though he certainly found her to be attractive now that he could see the natural fall of her dark hair. Combined with her lush curves and her big blue eyes, there was no denying that he would have taken her up on what had been on offer if she had been in earnest and not using her body as some sort of bribe to steer him away from his duty.

  She opened the top drawer and moved so that he could not see what she was doing. Suspicion nudged him.

  "What are you doing, woman?" He moved a step toward her.

  "First, my name is not woman." She straightened her spine and turned around with a stunner in her hand, which she pointed at him. "And second, I can't let you take me out of here. I will give you one more chance to forget who I am and that you found me. Otherwise I will be forced to incapacitate you."

  Surprise flashed through Rone, along with a grudging respect. She was certainly persistent in her resistance. Too bad it would do her no good.

  "Stop being foolish. You are only delaying the inevitable. Put the stunner down and come with me." He raised his hands up and took another step forward. He calculated in his head how quickly he could get the weapon away from her. He was confident that he could do it.

  "I'm not going anywhere with you."

  He rushed toward her, but his calculations were wrong as the high pitched whine of the stunner firing cut through the room and hot lightening coursed through his body.

  He hit the floor hard as unconsciousness gripped him tight and wouldn't let go.

  Chapter 4

  Relief made Cheria's legs buckle as soon as the bounty hunter hit the floor and she reached out to steady herself against the dresser. When he'd charged at her, ready to disarm her, panic had made her squeeze the trigger instead of freezing in fear. He was a frightening sight, with his big body moving quickly toward her with a fierce look on his face. Fortunately she'd managed to shoot him and save herself from being captured.

  She cautiously approached his prone body. She had set the stunner on max and had hoped it would be enough to take him down.

  After nudging him with her foot, she jumped back with the stunner pointed at him, poised to shoot him again if he so much as twitched. Fortunately, it appeared he was out cold.

  "I told you I wasn't coming with you. You should have listened." Even though he could not hear her, it made her feel better to say it. She'd warned him, and this predicament was all his own making.

  She moved quickly back to the dresser to pull out a fresh change of clothes. She started unhooking her bustier, with her back to him but she kept giving peeks over her shoulder to make sure he was still out. It made undoing the undergarment take longer than it should have.

  "Stop being so ridiculous. He's out cold and even if he wasn't, he's proven that he isn't interested in what you have to offer anyway." Although there had been a slight darkening of his eyes when she'd dropped her blouse on the floor that told her that perhaps he wasn't as indifferent to her so called charms as he claimed.

  And she had to admit, th
e thought of his big naked body on top of her bare flesh hadn't repulsed her. The notion intrigued her, making her curious about what a big man like that would feel like against her. But he hadn't been interested in a flesh bribe, even if it had been on offer, which it hadn't. Even if it had been, there was no guarantee that he would have let her go on her way if he had taken advantage of the flesh she'd shown him. Knocking him out had been the better way to go.

  And if she was going to get away clean, she needed to get moving.

  She still felt funny about stripping in her bedroom with him lying on the floor, so she scooped up her change of clothes and went across the hall into the bathroom. She quickly finished undoing her bustier and peeled it away from her body.

  Running the cold water, she quickly wet a face cloth and ran it over her sweaty skin. She wouldn't have time for a shower, but at least she could wipe off some of the sweat this day had put on her.

  Once that was done, she finished changing out of her clothes and into fresh ones. Out of the pocket of the pants she'd worn she pulled the envelope full of krills, grateful that her client had paid her with cash. If the bounty hunter knew her real name he might be able to trace any transactions she made with her e-wallet. He wouldn't be able to trace her if she used cold, hard currency. And there was enough money in the envelope to disappear for quite a while. Long enough for her to transform herself.

  She set the envelope on the counter and bent to open the bottom drawer in the vanity. She pulled out her makeup kit and took it and the cash out of the bathroom and went to the hall closet. Inside the closet was a duffle bag and her red wig. She dumped the makeup kit and the wig in the bag, and the envelope went into her pocket.

  She took the bag to her bedroom, her eyes going to the bounty hunter. He hadn't moved and she quickly set about packing enough clothing to last her for at least a week, putting everything haphazardly into the bag.