Her Alien Boss: Stranded on Earth: Book 4 (A Sci-Fi Alien Romance)

Chapter 19

Itext Quincy from my hiding place behind the barrel as Elaine tells Kyan about the office.

EMERGENCY: Meet me near the textile mill. At the edge of the woods. Elaine has Kyan. It’s bad.

Slipping into the shadows, I crouch down and crawl toward the old machinery in the corner and crawl through the hole that leads to the woods. I start running through the trees toward Kyan’s house. His family needs to know where he is. I also need their strength and fire if I’m going to take Elaine and Wyatt down. Quincy meets me on foot at the edge of the clearing, two blocks away from Sudbury Road.

“I’m going to get his brothers,” I tell him. “Head over there and stay outside. Don’t let her see you.”

“Okay, got it.”

“I’ll be back in five minutes. Hopefully with more dragons.”

We take off in opposite directions. I don’t stop running until I reach Kyan’s front door, and I press the doorbell at least eight times as I wait for someone to answer.

“Come on. Come on.” I’m bouncing on the doorstep. This is taking too long. Clearly, no one’s home. I remember Kyan telling me that his brothers live on either side, so I head to the one I can see and frantically ring the doorbell.

The face that greets me is Charlie, and she is not happy.

“You. What the fuck are you doing here?”

Several voices start speaking at once, and a crowd of people fill the room behind Charlie.

Zev gently nudges her to the side, his expression less murderous. “Naomi. Have you heard from Kyan? He’s missing.”

“Of course she has,” a booming voice adds. A man with fair skin, neat, tightly cropped light brown hair pushes his way forward. It’s one of his brothers. No doubt about it. I just don’t know which one. “She is the reason my son is also missing.”

Luka.

He grabs my arm and squeezes as he grits his teeth. “If you do not tell me what you have done with my boy and my brother, so help me––”

“The abandoned textile mill,” I interject, refusing to waste any more time. “Kyan and Hudson are both there and are being tortured by two vampires.”

A collective gasp fills the room.

“I don’t know how much time they have left, and I can’t save them on my own.” They can blame me for Kyan and Hudson’s abduction later. I’m certainly always going to blame myself, but now isn’t the time. “Please. Help me.”

The woman in the very back with long, curly dark hair and warm tawny skin surprises me by coming to my defense. “She wouldn’t come here alone begging for help as part of a trap. Hear her out.”

The brothers move into a circle, seemingly forming a plan without speaking. Can they read each other’s minds?

The one in the flannel shirt must be Axil. He takes the lead. “Ladies, you need to stay here. We’ll be back with both of them shortly.”

“Are you fucking serious?” A blonde woman steps forward, leaning heavily on her cane. “You think I’m just going to sit here while my son is being tortured? Just wait around while you guys get to take out the bastards that hurt my baby?”

I quickly gather that this is Harper.

Luka takes her face in his hands and presses his forehead against hers. “It’s safe here, ledai,” he says. “I cannot focus on freeing Hudson if I am worried about you too.”

“I second that,” a very pregnant woman with a short, brunette bob adds from the back, next to the one who stood up for me. “Harper, I need you alive to bring this little beast into the world soon. Also, because I love you.”

Harper rolls her eyes. “Fine.” She pokes a finger into Luka’s chest. “Make ‘em suffer.” Then she addresses the only guy in the room who doesn’t look like an alien dragon shifter. “Ryan, go with them and take the med bag.”

“Will do, doc,” Ryan says, leaving the room momentarily to retrieve a black apothecary bag.

We don’t bother walking back to Kyan’s house for them to get inside their designated shifting area between the hanging tarps. I crawl into one of Zev’s claws, and Ryan gets into one of Luka’s just before they launch into the sky like a formation of four stealth fighter jets.

In under a minute, we land in the woods behind the mill. Luka shifts back into his flightless form, but once Zev releases Ryan, he launches back into the sky. “Here is the plan,” Luka begins. “The three of them are going to circle the building. They can avoid detection as long as they stay in the air. Do you know where they are inside?”

I point to the left side of the building. “Kyan is in a cage over there. His injuries are,” I shiver as I picture how I left him, “really bad. I don’t know where they’re keeping Hudson. From inside, it looked like Kyan’s area was one big room. Elaine and Wyatt came from the northeast corner, so I think that’s where he’d be.”

Luka nods as he takes in my directions. “Okay, how were you able to get in?”

I show him where we can crawl through. “It’s a tight squeeze, but we can fit. That whole section doesn’t have any lighting, so once we get inside, we can hide behind the machines as we make our way toward Kyan.”

“Ryan,” he says, turning to the man with the bag, “I want you at least twenty feet from the building, okay? I will throw a rock at one of the windows once we are inside, and the guys are going to start busting through walls.”

“Makes sense.”

Ryan smells like a human, but without an offensive, artificial odor. I expect him to look more afraid than he does, given he’s the only one tagging along who’ll likely die before he reaches one hundred. Hell, depending on how the night goes, I might join that list. He must be used to these kinds of dangerous dragon missions.

“I will call for you once the threat is neutralized, and we know what we are dealing with in terms of injuries.” Luka looks between me and Ryan, I think to assess our mental strength. “Ready?”

We say yes, and I lead the way toward the mill. When we get inside, I hear Elaine talking to Kyan. Peeking around the edge of what looks like a tractor with a conveyor belt, I notice that Kyan is lying on his side, looking far too still for my liking. Blood continues to seep out of a deep gash down his back, and it looks like a pool of it has formed around his entire body.

It would explain why Elaine is leaning against the bars of the cage. There’s no way she’d get that close if he were conscious. I can’t hear what she’s saying, but her tone sounds mocking.

We creep along the wall, behind the barrels, and when we’re safely behind the closest barrel to the cage, Luka grabs a rock off the floor and hurls it toward the wall of windows next to the tractor thing. Glass shatters, causing Elaine to jerk her head toward the noise and then stomp in that direction.

She circles the machine, looking confused when she finds nothing. Before she can return to this side, a blue wrecking ball smashes through the bricks, leaving a dragon-sized hole in the wall and roof. She screams as chaos rains down around her.

I race to Kyan’s side, whispering his name to get him to wake up. Luka throws another rock at the glass only a few feet from where we just were, then there’s a ball of fire, and another Monroe brother uses his body to blast through the bricks.

Elaine cries out in horror as the roof caves in above her head, and her kitten heels fail to get her out of the danger zone before debris crashes down on top of her.

Luka uses the opportunity to charge toward the section where I think Hudson is being kept.

A ball of fire lights up the sky, casting a menacing glow in every dark corner of this miserable torture chamber. More glass breaks as another wall is toppled, leaving Kyan and me in one of the few remaining untouched parts of the building.

“Please wake up, my love,” I whimper, noticing the dull blue shade of his skin. I’m worried about fever, sepsis, and so many things. I just know I can’t lose him. Not now. Not this soon after finding him.

“Hey,” Quincy whispers, emerging from behind another barrel.

Fuck, I totally forgot he was here. “Quince,” I shout, as quietly as a shout can be, gesturing for him to come toward us.

“Jesus,” he says, looking around at the mess with raised brows and a playful smirk. “Those fuckers are crazy.”

“Yeah, they don’t mess around.”

He leans against the cage next to me. “How is he?”

“Not good. I just need them to help me get rid of Elaine and Wyatt so they can get their doctor in here.”

“They have a doctor?” Quincy asks. “Like, for dragons?”

I nod. “I assume so. That’s why they brought him along.”

“Baller.”

Axil and Mylo emerge from the back rooms. Mylo has Wyatt’s arms locked behind him as Axil holds a sharp wooden stake to his throat. Luka follows close behind with what I assume to be Hudson draped across his arms. He’s awake, but barely. His long, lanky body is covered in bruises, and there are cuts all over his face.

“Ryan!” Luka roars.

Ryan leaps over piles of brick and shattered glass with surprising grace for a human, and he rips open his bag as Luka lays Hudson gently on the floor.

Wyatt’s face is red with anger, and I can’t suppress the smile that forms at seeing him like this, especially after he watched Elaine beat the crap out of me and just laughed.

Mylo and Axil lead him over to us, and Quincy and I step to the side as they reach the front of Kyan’s cage. “Open the cage,” Axil growls, pressing the tip of the stake against Wyatt’s chest.

Wyatt trembles. “I can’t. I don’t have the code.”

Axil’s not buying it. “Open it!”

When he yells, you can’t stop your body from shaking. The whole room does. He’s one scary dragon.

Wyatt decides this would be a good time to yell for Mike. “Mike! Hel––” Mylo and Axil immediately get him on the ground, covering his mouth as they search his pockets. Axil pulls a phone out of Wyatt’s pocket as Mylo kneels on his arms, keeping him immobilized. He tries kicking them but can’t reach and just looks ridiculous.

“Well, the British one is dead,” Zev says as he strolls through an opening that used to be a wall. He notices the stake on the floor and grabs it, taking Axil’s place as he holds it against Wyatt’s chest.

“Give me the fucking code!”

Wyatt refuses, probably because there’s not a big enough threat to his life.

“Wait, we don’t need him for that,” Zev notes, handing the stake back to Axil. Zev steps toward the front of the cage and his gaze narrows as he stares at the keypad.

Seconds later, the keypad lets out a pleasant beep and the lock clicks open. I don’t know how he just did that, but I also don’t care.

Ryan finishes tending to Hudson’s most immediate needs and climbs inside the cage once the door is open.

I hover at the opening, silently praying Kyan will pull through.

A pile of bricks topples over, and Elaine leaps out from beneath it, covered in dirt and dust. She’s barefoot as she charges at me with lightning speed, clutching a splintered piece of wood in her hand.

Wyatt somehow wiggles free while the guys are distracted by Elaine, and Kyan’s brothers become a tangle of limbs as they try to tackle Wyatt and pin him to the ground.

Elaine’s eyes are wild, and she’s screaming like a madwoman, holding me in her sights.

Luka covers his son’s body with his own, shielding Hudson from the violence erupting everywhere.

I’m shoved sideways, my shoulder slamming into the side of the cage before I fall to the ground.

When I pull myself up, I see Quincy lying in front of the cage, his eyes open, and his body still as Elaine climbs off him, leaving the wooden stake lodged in his chest.

A piercing wail is wrenched from my throat as I fall to my knees at his side, my hands wrap around the stake, trying to remove it. “No, Quincy. No,” I sob, refusing to accept that my friend, my brilliant, generous friend is now gone.

Because of me. He sacrificed himself to protect me from Elaine.

I already owed him so much for just being there when no one else was, and now this. It’s a debt I will never be able to repay, no matter how many decades or centuries I’m given the opportunity to try.

Pulling the stake free, I drop it at my side as I lay my head against his chest. “I’m sorry.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I see Elaine circling Zev, Axil, and Mylo as they continue fighting with Wyatt. The moment one of them gets Wyatt on his back, he slips through their grasp.

My eyes are trained on Elaine’s back as she moves toward Kyan’s brothers, and I start to tally all the ways she’s caused me pain. She forced me to spy on Kyan while working with a corrupt cop to learn secrets about Kyan’s family. She tortured my loving, magnificent dragon and his nephew. And now Quincy.

Rage darkens my vision, and something inside me just snaps. My hand finds the stake without looking down. I leap over Quincy’s body and throw myself headfirst into her side. We hit one of the barrels and it splinters beneath us. Punches are thrown as we wrestle for dominance. Eventually, I end up on top.

Then…

I don’t know. Time skips ahead, and I don’t realize what’s happened until I’m driving that stake through her heart, over and over, in an attempt to seek justice for what she’s put me through. Big hands clasp my arms, and I’m lifted off her.

“It’s okay,” Zev whispers as he pulls me away and holds me against his chest. “Breathe, Naomi.”

I stand frozen in shock as he rubs my back, trying to calm me. At one point, his arms loosen, and I tumble forward.

“Okay,” he mutters. “We’re not there just yet. It’s okay. Shh.”

I hear Axil’s deep rumble to my right. “She’s gone, Naomi. Elaine is dead. You’re safe now.”

Just beyond the leveled walls of the mill, tires screech, and four burly men charge inside, followed by a frail-looking blonde woman.

“Hey,” Luka says, pointing at the woman. “You’re the doctor, right?”

“Yes,” she says, putting her hand on her chest. “Yvonne.”

Wait. This is Yvonne? The mysterious texts to Kyan came from her?

The men survey the scene and seem pleased the hard work is done.

Gesturing to the men, Luka asks, “Who are these guys?”

One of them steps forward, offering his hand. “Owen, sir.”

Luka shakes it, a smirk tugging at his lips after being addressed so formally. “Owen.”

“I’m a member of Kyan’s pack, a jaguar shifter.” He nods toward the other three. “These chuckleheads are the rest of the pack.”

Mylo tilts his head to the side. “His pack?”

Yvonne pipes in. “Yes, we live in basement of office building.”

The basement. So that’s what he was hiding down there? A group of shifters and a shady-looking doctor?

“Were you there tonight?” I ask, remembering Elaine bragging about arson. “When it burned down?”

“No, we left before,” Yvonne says. “I see two shady men in parking garage on smoke break. They act suspicious, so I pack up lab and boys and leave.”

“Kyan?” I hear Ryan say, and I break free of Zev’s embrace to race over to the cage. “Can you hear me?”

“Mm,” he groans, his eyes slowly blinking open. Everyone surrounds the cage. His brothers, his pack, me, and Yvonne as Ryan shines a flashlight into each of Kyan’s eyes. “Yeah,” he croaks, and my heart soars.

“Kyan,” Yvonne says, “I secure finances and get out of building before fire. Boys are okay. Everything okay.”

“Mm, thas good,” he replies, so groggy and out of it I wonder if he understood her.

Axil and Luka exchange a questioning glance at Yvonne’s words, clearly confused about her role in Kyan’s secret life.

As Ryan lifts one of Kyan’s eyelids, Mylo shouts, “Whoa, is that what I think it is?”

Axil leans in and starts chuckling. “Yep. They’re blinking.”

“Are you kidding me?” Luka asks, shocked. “Kyan? I never thought I’d see the day.”

Zev’s hand covers his mouth as he shakes his head. “I did.”

Then they all look over at me. “I don’t get it.”

Luka puts a hand on my shoulder. “Welcome to the family, Naomi.”

What the hell am I missing?

The members of his pack seem just as confused as I am.

Axil seems to be the only one willing to spell it out. “You’re his mate. The final Monroe brother has met his match.”