Epilogue
I curled up in the co-pilot seat of Burr’k’s shuttle, an upgrade we’d added shortly after I joined him three years ago.
The little stuffed mouse he’d gifted me hung from the ceiling like fuzzy dice from a nonexistent rearview mirror.
On a shuttle wall, next to the sleeping nook, was a printout of Burr’k with his arms crossed and all grouchy-like, in front of his ice-covered shuttle.
It was two days till Christmas, and we were on our way back to New Franklin. This was the first year I’d given up all responsibility of being the Christmas Committee leader and taken a back seat. I was excited to sit back and enjoy the festivities, but something had been feeling off lately.
I was exhausted, my body ached, and I’d been craving the weirdest things, like pickled beets with cinnamon rolls. Burr’k had noticed. He kept glancing over at me, his golden eyes narrowing every time I shifted in my seat.
“You’re not well,” he said finally, voice low and tight.
“I’m fine,” I lied, but even I didn’t believe it.
He was beside me in seconds, lifting me into his lap. But this time, it seemed he came prepared, holding a medical device. The scan was quick, but it was his reaction that worried me. He stared at the display, frowning and frozen like a grumpy statue.
I blinked at the screen, unable to read the alien glyphs.
“What’s wrong?”
He scanned me again. Then, the frown was replaced with a grin that showed his sexy fangs. “You are with young!”
I stared at him. “I’m what?”
“You’re pregnant!”
My hand flew to my stomach.
Burr’k had gone into the grounded mothership sometime last year to get his fertility block removed.
It was something all hunters were created with.
Despite all the fun we’d had trying, nothing happened.
We’d been disappointed but had accepted it would happen when it did and that we couldn’t rush things.
We’d stopped trying and just decided to live life as it came.
Burr’k dropped to his knees in front of me, his massive frame wedged awkwardly between the shuttle seat and the screen. His arms locked around me like we were going through the initial mating bond all over again.
“This is the best present I’ve ever received,” he murmured, his voice so thick with emotion that for a moment I thought the big, burly hunter would burst into tears. “And I will protect you both with everything I am.”
I couldn’t speak. I could barely breathe. Tears blurred my vision as joy surged through me.
When the space bugs came, I’d buried the dream of finding love and building a family. Survival had become everything. I’d learned to be grateful for each day and never give up hope. All of that had paid off.
We were going to be a family!
THE END
New to the Xarc’n Warriors and looking for more? Here’s an excerpt from Claimed by the Hunter, the book that started it all!
A sound at the door alerted me of the presence of an intruder.
I peeked over the counter and froze. At the door stood a Xarc’n hunter.
The alien warrior was huge, with giant shoulders and a broad, muscular chest. He had to duck to get through the door.
Even when he stood up fully in the convenience store, he looked almost hunched over from the masses of muscles on his neck and back.
And he was staring straight at me as if he’d come in looking for me.
Yellow-green eyes met mine. They glowed slightly in the darkened store, standing out against the purplish mauve of his leathery skin.
I noticed his horns next. The black horns curved from his temples, reminding me of a ram.
They looked heavy, and I was sure they were used often as a weapon from the wear marks on them.
No wonder he had such a thick neck; only a tree trunk could hold up those horns.
He took a step toward me, and I gawked at the inhuman-looking legs.
Each muscular limb ended in giant feet with three toes in the front and one opposable digit at the back, and each toe was capped in sharp claws.
Those were the feet of a monster. He took another step toward me, and the claws gleamed as they passed through a beam of sunlight shining in from the broken window.
Panicked, I backed away and grabbed the metal bar strapped to my thigh.
Though how the metal crowbar would help me, I did not know.
It looked like a toothpick next to his monstrous form.
His dark skin looked tough and leathery.
I’d bet he was very well armored naturally.
Even if I put all my weight behind the swing, it would bounce off him like nothing.
He didn’t wear anything except what looked like a loincloth, a belt, and a harness.
Pieces of armor were strapped strategically to the harness to protect him.
He wore a long axe on his back and a blaster on his belt as if his claws, fangs, and horns weren’t weapons enough.
He also had a few pouches and devices strapped to his harness.
He growled unintelligibly before a device strapped to one of his belts translated it to English. “Calm, female. No fear. Not harm you.”
Sure, and I was a monkey’s uncle. I wasn’t stupid. Not trusting the alien, I gripped my crowbar tighter and brandished it in front of me. The alien frowned, and the effect was downright terrifying, drawing attention to his elongated canines.
More growling ensued, and I waited for the translator to do its job. “No fear me. I care for female.” He reached into a pouch strapped to his belt and brought out a handful of what looked like alien nutrition bars. He held one out for me, the strange yellow-green eyes still holding my gaze.
I shook my head, and then, realizing that Mr. Big, Tall, and Scary might not understand the gesture, I said, “No, I don’t need any.
” There was no way I was going to take gifts from a Xarc’n warrior.
It was rumored that they would offer gifts of food to starving women, and if the women took the food, they took the women.
No one has ever seen a female Xarc’n alien, and it doesn’t take a brain surgeon to know what they wanted with us.
The translator didn’t growl anything back at him, but he looked as if he understood my words all the same. He smiled, and the look was so terrifying, I nearly shat myself. Sharp teeth lined his mouth, and there was no doubt I faced a predator. I preferred him frowning.
“Take. Hungry.”
“No, I’m not hungry. I don’t want your food.” My stomach chose that moment to growl loudly, calling me out as a big, fat liar.
A low rumble sounded from him, his chest shook, and mirth sparkled recognizably in his strange eyes.
The oversized asshole was laughing at me! I narrowed my eyes at him, suddenly pissed. The nerve! Fuck him and his food. I wasn’t going to take the food anyway, but now I was doubly sure he could keep it and shove it where the light didn’t shine.
Shoring up my courage, I stood a little straighter and announced, “I’m leaving this store now. Please let me leave.”
The alien didn’t move but continued to block the door. He thumped himself on the chest and said a single word. The device did not translate.
“Move so I can leave,” I repeated. Then a little louder, since he hadn’t hurt me yet, “Get out of my way!”
“Female no go.” Instead of moving, he repeated his motion and word.
Was he trying to tell me his name? He repeated the word one more time, and I took my best shot at the strange alien name. “Kajeck.”
“Kaj’k,” he swallowed the last syllable.
“Kaj’k.”
He grinned, showing a row of shiny, super sharp teeth. I shuddered and backed away.
Find Out What happens!