Possessed by the Alien King (Fated Mates of the Varool #1)

by Krista Luna

Father and I had made a horrible mistake, and it was up to me to put it right. I owed it to the rest of humanity. And I even owed it to the Varool.

I wanted to shout that it hadn’t been planned. The virus was only supposed to make the Varool sick so they’d think they were biologically incompatible with Sagittarian One. The mutation was unprecedented and inexplicable. Also, hadn’t humanity paid enough by losing everyone born with XY chromosomes? I opened my mouth, but guilt crashed over me, churning my stomach. The Varool was right. Humans had made the virus, humans had released the virus, and humans had lied when the Varool asked if we knew why their women were ill. The lie had delayed the search for a cure. Both species had paid—and paid dearly.

“No.” A harsh voice shattered the moment. It was the brute, the king. “Deirdre Hutchins is mine.” The dawning sun of my hope died, snuffed out before it ever burned bright.

Grol shifted, a scowl lengthening his square face. My head of war didn’t trust the humans, even for this peace accord. And why should he? The duplicitous aliens had already proved willing to stoop to the lowest level to get what they wanted. The memory of my ship’s Healing Hall flashed through my mind—every bed and spare cot filled with one of my people. Each fought her final battle against an implacable enemy. They had been proud warriors—I had hated how the human virus rampaging through their bodies made them cry out in distress. The silence afterward had been far worse.

Lun turned to shoot me a puzzled look. My heart pinched in my chest. My brother looked so much like Mother. He had her bright-green eyes and joyful disposition, while I took after our father, a huge block of a man, all hard angles and thick muscle. Those eyes now asked a million questions. Yet he voiced not a one of them, unwilling to show our enemies any sign of division or weakness. Pride swelled my chest. He was a good prince and an even better brother. It was a blade to my heart to disappoint him. He had been excited to be the Varool to marry and seal the official peace treaty. I would need to tell him it was not a lack in him that led to my declaration.

Shock jolted through me anew as my zural heart began to beat for the first time in my life. The secondary organ offered the additional circulatory support needed to maintain the hurvon, the larger mating erection.

I had searched for this scent amongst our women for years, to no avail. When they all died, I thought my ability to mate had died with them. Now it wafted from the human woman—my enemy. My teeth ground together. It cannot be! Yet it was. This human was my fated mate.

Deirdre Hutchins was the daughter of the man who had killed every Varool woman and doomed my people to a future of interbreeding with inferiors. Their evil virus still lingered on the planet below, set to kill again if given the chance. The only solution any of our scientists had found was to hope our offspring had hybrid vigor. At least her father’s own weapon turned around and killed him and all of the other human males. My lips pulled back from my tee...

Lun’s head whipped around, his eyes narrowing as he studied my chest. He had heard. I refused to look down, to acknowledge the new pounding of my zural heart and the visible pulse it created in the very center of my chest. It should have beat for a woman of my people, not the daughter of my enemy. I glared at her. Her eyes narrowed, and she glared back.

“Well. That’s all taken care of,” the admiral said, standing and rubbing her hands together. “King Storr, I’d like to invite you and all of your people to a celebration. We’ve arranged a party in the main atrium.” They expected me to celebrate this mockery of a mating? “No. No party.” I shoved to my feet, anger tightening my muscles. “We consummate now.”

They’d all need to marry one of the aliens if they wanted a chance at the planet. That was what our deal really boiled down to—the only humans the Varool would allow onto Sagittarian One would be those who’d married a Varool.

There were about to be a lot of arranged marriages.

THE HUMAN WAS being emotional and irrational. Deirdre Hutchins had known she would leave her people today—why was she acting like this? My nostrils flared. Her agitated state made her scent billow outward. My zural heart thudded to life, stirring my hurvon. I had to claim her. Now.

Outside the viewscreen, the shuttle-bay doors opened on the black of space dotted with a sprinkling of stars. It had been far too long since I had the opportunity to fly the personal royal spacecraft. Not since— My shoulders tightened, my lips pulling back from my teeth. Not since before the humans had released their virus. I had flown down to the surface of Sagittarian One to oversee the construction of the first few buildings of our new city, Jelva. I had named it in honor of my mother, who had been queen before me. The day had been fair, with the planet’s typical storms raging across another part of the main continent. Lun had accompanied me, his face shining with delight to step onto the surface and breathe unfiltered air. Jelva was a ghost town now. Deirdre Hutchins and I would be the first to populate its empty streets.

She may not be the mate I had longed for—and I would never consider her my queen—but I needed her to cement this treaty.

My heart ached for my people’s loss. If I ever found out one of the living humans made that cursed virus, I would stop at nothing to exact my revenge, treaty be damned.

I stepped close and clasped her shoulder with one hand, using the other to control my shaft. Deep-orange liquid, the marking precum made only this once, beaded on the tip. I pressed it to her lower stomach, and the touch of her skin sent a hot jolt of pleasure searing through me. I took a couple of deep breaths to regain control and wrote my claiming glyph.

His eyes bored into mine, with nothing soft about them. I’d never had hate sex before. God, it was hot. So hot.

“Not the first time I had sex, but the first with the full size and sensitivity of my hurvon.” His voice dropped to a deep rumble. “The first with my fated mate.” Holy shit! The heat he put into those last words made me tingle.

“Aren’t you forgetting something?” “I forget nothing, human.” It sounded like a threat. “What about me?” “You will slide yourself toward me, and I will secure you as well.” Huh. I rated as high as the luggage to him. Good to know, I guess.

When I could open my eyes again, I could just make out a splash of dark orange. A munk-cat—it must be! The small mammals looked like someone crossed a cat with a chipmunk. They were feline in shape, with a dark orange coat marked by long black and white stripes that ran the full length of their bodies from nose to tail tip. They chittered like a squirrel. The zoologists had come up with some fancy name no one remembered because everyone called them munk-cats.

Their gazes locked in a staring contest for a few seconds. Am I now some kind of magnet for orange-colored males with stripes? I squashed down a laugh. Maybe I’d hit my head harder than I thought?

There are times when leading a life of responsibility seems to kill all of life’s joy. This was one of them.

Several meters in, bright laughter greeted me. I ducked behind a tree to observe. My mate darted back and forth across a small clearing, dragging a piece of vine behind her. The small hunter pounced, growling and shredding the long yellow leaves with tiny sharp claws. My mate laughed, her eyes sparkling with life. I pictured her playing exactly thus with our children, giving them a life filled with joy. My zural heart pounded as a flush of additional blood warmed my chest instead of my hurvon. It felt… odd.

Her nearness made my zural heart pound harder, increasing the disturbing feeling. “We need to leave,” I snapped and spun on my heel to march back to camp. However, I nonetheless caught a glimpse of her face, now covered in a frown instead of a smile. A flash of disquiet ran through me at causing her darkening mood. A growl rumbled from deep in my throat. I am in the right. I need feel no guilt.

At least I had Johnny. He ran back and forth, scouting ahead for minutes at a time before running back to me, chittering about everything he’d seen. I wished he and I could truly talk. It would certainly be a more friendly conversation than my brooding hulk of a husband offered.

“I did it!” I spun to face him, rejoicing in my win, and he smiled. He freaking smiled. Oh. My heart skipped. His finely chiseled features meant he’d always been good-looking, but when he smiled, he became gorgeous.

The little hunter no longer ranged far, choosing instead to stick by my mate’s side. I owed the feline a debt I would not soon forget. Its keen senses had provided a much-needed warning. I dared not imagine what might have occurred otherwise.

Still, her cuts grew slower the farther we went, my yedral blade heavy in her hand. Seeing her hold it was… odd. My mother gifted it to me when I completed my warrior training at sixteen, and it had never been touched by another person since.

She is my mate, the one other person in the universe allowed to wield it. Yet the image of her turning and plunging its length into my heart lingered, haunting my steps.

The smell of my mate’s arousal tempted me, and I could no longer resist the urge to feast.

Now isn’t the time to go all moon-eyed. He still doesn’t trust me. I chewed for a moment. Then another thought hit. He shouldn’t trust me. I’m lying to him. The man—the husband—who’d just saved my life. The prokshu lodged in my throat, and I coughed. Storr’s eyes snapped to me with a note of alarm, but I waved away his offer of help. I didn’t deserve it.

I settled near her, dragged the food bag within reach, and unsealed it. “What would you like for lunch?” “Some more of the prokshu, if there’s enough.” A spike of pleasure went through me. It was miniscule, yet knowing she enjoyed my favorite dish appeased that most primitive part of me that wanted to provide for my mate.

Brave to the end, Dad had called me into his bedside that last day. He’d barely been able to lift his hand by then, but still he had, brushing the tears from my cheeks. “What is this? You can’t be my Deirdre of the Sorrows. Smile for me.” I tried, my lips wavering, but I couldn’t maintain it and broke down. “Dad, I’m so, so sorry. It’s all my—” “No.” His voice took on some of its former military tone of command. “You stop that. I ordered you to do this. This is all on me. Don’t forget it.” He lay there, so still, so thin, reduced from the powerful presence he’d always been in my life. But his eyes still held fire, their gray depths boring into me, making me promise. When he died, I made another vow to him. I would discover what went wrong with the virus. I brushed the tears from my cheeks. No more weeping. I had promises to keep.

I don’t want him to think I’m weak. Did it matter what he thought? Yes, it did. He might never like me, but I sure as shit wanted him to respect me. Though being liked might be nice, a little voice whispered. I shoved on.

Her curiosity, however, sparked mine—how could such an intelligent mind have been relegated to that of a technician? Were the humans really so blind to her potential? Perhaps that would be my mating tribute to her. I had originally dismissed the idea of giving a human any such gift, but an education in varoolian science would delight her. My zural heart pounded, warming my chest without stirring my hurvon. I turned away to prepare dinner.

Her voice drifted back to tease my ears with a sing-song of sweet talk for the small hunter. Would she do the same for our child? I hurried after her, drawn forward by the bewitching sound, my zural heart pulsing in my chest.

Deirdre’s voice came to me, her words indistinguishable. Yet the sound sparked something within me. My zural heart thumped to life, beating for the survival of my mate, and I surged ahead as it sent extra blood to oxygen-starved muscles.

I can’t lose him, not when I’m starting to like him. Sure, he can be gruff and supercilious. But he’s also the most honorable person I know, and he’s constantly putting himself in danger for me. Whatever this is between us is already growing and changing. I didn’t know what we could be for each other, but I wanted to find out. I refused to let the possibility of our future go, to let him go.

My mate had saved my life today at significant risk to her own, especially considering her fear of the water. It showed a great character of will. She deserved to be treated with care. I would show her everything a true mating could be.

Yet something was odd. It took me long moments to realize what it was. I turned my head farther and pressed my ear more firmly to his chest. He had two heartbeats! I moved around. The louder thumping came from where I’d expect his heart to be since the Varool were so similar to humans. But the second… My palm covered the spot directly below his sternum, where an extra vibration pulsed.

“What is this?” I whispered, looking up at him. “It is my zural heart.” His deep voice rumbled even when he spoke softly, and his hand covered mine. “It beats only for you, my mate.”

When we finished, he spun me around and gathered me into his arms. Lifting me effortlessly, he pressed a hot kiss to my mouth. Yes! Relief rushed through me as I kissed him back. Too soon, he set me down, though he reached out to touch my cheek. “Much as I long to taste you again, we must go. Our people await.” I understood. His quietness over breakfast changed into a whole other meaning—worry about our goal instead of about last night. Lightness filled me, and I hummed as we strapped on our packs.

No matter what her people have done, I will no longer doubt her. My mate did not deserve to pay for the crimes of others. We would have a good life full of many happy children—I would see to it.

All the guilt I’d stuffed down time and time again exploded, filling my entire being. It didn’t matter that I’d been one of a team. It didn’t matter that I’d been ordered to make the virus. And it didn’t matter that it should have been impossible for it to turn lethal. It had. All those people, dead by my hands.

His hands gripped my shoulders. “The scanner found nothing. I do not understand. I need you to tell me what is wrong.” Concern laced his voice, his beautiful voice. I let my fingers slide open to peek out. He looked at me with such care that another wave of grief welled in my chest, ripping from my throat in broken hiccups. Oh, god! I’m already in love with him. But as soon as he finds out what I did, he’ll hate me. And he should. Storr cradled me to him, and I sobbed against his chest. My fingers clutched at the firm muscle of his shoulders, the only solidity in a volatile universe. As much as the thought of losing him killed me, I couldn’t continue to lie to him, even by omission. I would tell him who I really was, what I had done. But I needed the strength of his arms for just a little longer.

A tone sounded, and a gender-neutral voice said, “Identity confirmed. Welcome, Senior Virologist Hutchins.” The door slid open, but shock held me rooted in place.

Back on the main screen, several files were open. “That’s strange.” I could swear I’d closed everything before we abandoned the lab. I maximized one of the viral modeling programs. The virus filled the screen, rotating slowly. Something looked off, so I zoomed in. Shock had me gasping. It wasn’t the virus my team had made—it was the mutated one! “What the freaking hell?” It couldn’t be! We’d evacuated the lab before releasing the original virus. We didn’t find our first sample of the mutated one until weeks later. I skimmed through entry after entry. The logs went back months, starting only a couple of days after I’d left the facility. Whoever had done this work was good, dammit. Freakishly good. They’d immediately started tweaking the virus’ DNA in multiple sites at once. It only took them three permutations to create the deadly version, and the changes were amazingly precise. How had they even done it? I’d never seen anyone try to change more than one site at a time—the results were too unpredictable. Shock locked my body rigid as I read the file again. Here was proof that someone had purposefully altered the virus—someone not me. I sagged against the bench. Relief poured over me like a shower after a week of water rations, washing away the sour stench of guilt that had been rotting at the center of my heart. I didn’t do it! I wasn’t the one who caused the mutated virus! I didn’t kill anyone! Then it hit me. I didn’t kill Dad!

Maybe Deirdre is not a mistake. That voice again. I bared my teeth, yet it continued on. Would a cold-blooded killer worry over your injuries? Would she let herself be open and vulnerable as she made love to you? Would such an evil person dive into the river to rescue you when she cannot swim? “Quiet!” I punched the tree again. Would you fall in love with such a woman? And there it was, the true crux of the matter—my emotions were already in play. Which only made me doubt myself more.

“Divine Mother, I humbly apologize for ever doubting your wisdom,” I whispered. “Guide your son as he breasts this challenge. Allow me to save the mate you have gifted as my fate.”