Rexx: Alien Adoption Agency #6 Read online

  Rexx

  Alien Adoption Agency #6

  Tasha Black

  13th Story Press

  Copyright © 2021 by 13th Story Press

  All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof

  may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever

  without the express written permission of the publisher

  except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  13th Story Press

  PO Box 506

  Swarthmore, PA 19081

  [email protected]

  Cover designed by Sylvia Frost of The Book Brander

  Contents

  Tasha Black Starter Library

  About Rexx

  Rexx

  1. Abigail

  2. Rexx

  3. Abigail

  4. Rexx

  5. Abigail

  6. Rexx

  7. Abigail

  8. Rexx

  9. Abigail

  10. Abigail

  11. Rexx

  12. Rexx

  13. Abigail

  14. Rexx

  15. Abigail

  16. Rexx

  17. Abigail

  18. Rexx

  19. Abigail

  20. Rexx

  21. Abigail

  22. Rexx

  23. Abigail

  24. Rexx

  25. Rexx

  26. Abigail

  27. Rexx

  28. Abigail

  29. Rexx

  30. Abigail

  31. Rexx

  32. Abigail

  33. Abigail

  Crowned Mate (SAMPLE)

  1. Juno

  2. Zane

  Tasha Black Starter Library

  About the Author

  One Percent Club

  Tasha Black Starter Library

  Packed with steamy shifters, mischievous magic, billionaire superheroes, and plenty of HEAT, the Tasha Black Starter Library is the perfect way to dive into Tasha's unique brand of Romance with Bite!

  Get your FREE books now at tashablack.com!

  About Rexx

  Their sights are trained on love. But will they survive a ride on the Iron Peregrine?

  Abigail Shaw can’t believe her good luck. The Alien Adoption Agency has selected her to adopt adorable baby Rio. And baby Rio comes with Rexx, a handsome Invicta warrior guard, whose dark eyes seduce Abigail before he even opens his mouth. When he offers her his mate bond, she thinks things can’t get any better. She’s finally going to have a family of her own. And they’re getting a free ride on the famous Iron Peregrine express train to their new home.

  Rexx is a proud dragon warrior of the Invicta, who has spent so many years laser focused on his military career that he’s forgotten how to live in the outside world. But when he meets kind-hearted Abigail, his dragon goes wild. It takes everything he has to restrain himself from claiming her instantly.

  Together, they’re ready to take on the frontier moon of Lachesis. But there’s something happening on the cross-moon train they’re taking to get home. They’ve barely boarded the Iron Peregrine when they’re faced with a mysterious locked car, a criminally dangerous passenger, unexplained noises in the night, and a missing person. And then things get really bad…

  Will Abigail and Rexx find a way to make it home safely with baby Rio? And if Rexx does what has to be done, will Abigail still want to be his mate? Or will that train have left the station?

  If you like strong women, hunky aliens, wild adventures, steamy sensual scenes, and happily-ever-afters, then you’ll love the world of Stargazer!

  Alien Adoption Agency is a Stargazer Alien Series – read them all:

  Set on the moon of Clotho:

  -Noxx

  -Kade

  -Tyro

  Set on the moon of Lachesis:

  - Zane

  - Rexx

  - Odin

  Rexx

  1

  Abigail

  Abigail stepped out of the stark decontamination tent and into a meadow so lush and green it almost didn’t seem real.

  A light breeze played in her hair and rustled her impractical gown.

  The adoption agency had required a lot from her. So when they handed her the low-cut purple dress as she prepared to board the ship, she didn’t even ask them why. She just wanted to get to her baby. She would have worn a potato sack if they wanted, or nothing at all.

  Her eyes searched the meadow and landed at last on a huge, azure warrior holding a small baby, with blue skin that matched the big man’s perfectly.

  The baby was deliciously chubby, and he was clearly feeling active and awake. She watched in awe as he kicked his little feet and tried to stick his whole fist in his mouth.

  Her heart melted instantly. She gathered the gown in her hands and sprinted for him, not wanting to waste another second that could be spent holding him.

  Abigail had six siblings, and she adored them all. As the oldest, she had been her parents’ helper with the younger ones, and longed for the day when she could be a mother to her own children.

  But a sudden illness in her teen years meant she needed lifesaving treatments. It was a miracle that her family had scraped together the funds. But they had done it, and the doctors had saved her life.

  Now she was a hale and hearty young woman. But those treatments meant she would be unable to have biological children.

  Abigail was a naturally light-hearted person. But knowledge of her infertility caused a strange sadness in her that had no depths or barriers. Days might pass with no more than a fleeting thought, and then the pain would come out of nowhere, like someone had leapt out of the shadows to physically attack her.

  Abigail tried her best to bear it in silence. Her family had moved mountains to save her life. It felt cruel to let them see her pain. She was glad to be alive, grateful to the doctors who had saved her.

  And Abigail was an optimistic person. She was sure to have plenty of nieces and nephews to adore. One day, maybe she would fall in love with a man who wasn’t looking for children from his partner. Maybe he would even already have children of his own, and she could be a second mother to them. Her bouts of sorrow were usually short-lived, despite their intensity, because Abigail had always been blessed with an endless capacity to imagine a bright future.

  My little sparrow her mother used to call her, for her cheerful nature.

  But seeing this baby, her baby, filled Abigail with a happiness beyond anything she could have ever imagined.

  Suddenly her illness, her treatments, the years of throwing herself into her teaching work instead of dating, all seemed preordained. Everything had been leading her to this moment.

  This was her son. She was his mother. It was meant to be.

  She had nearly reached him before she noticed the serious expression on the handsome face of the enormous man who held the baby.

  He was probably involved with the adoption agency in some way. It was impossible not to notice the practiced way he cradled the child in his arms.

  If she hadn’t known better, she would have thought the baby was his son. The way his thumb unconsciously stroked a chubby thigh seemed almost loving. And he did share a matching hue with the baby.

  But Abigail knew that wasn’t possible. All of the babies had been pod-grown from preserved Imberian DNA, and the big man was clearly not Imberian.

  “Hello,” she said, as she skidded to a stop before him, panting. “I’m Abigail Shaw.”

  “Rexx,” the man said, nodding in a businesslike way. “You’re the adoptive mother.”

  “Yes,” she said, breaking eye contact with the strangely handsome man to feast her eyes on the baby. “Hi, little
guy. I’m your mama. It’s so nice to finally meet you.”

  The little one kicked his feet straight out and squeaked at her, his eyes dancing.

  “Oh, my stars,” Abigail exclaimed. “What’s your name?”

  “He does not have a name,” the man said seriously. “As his mother, that duty falls to you.”

  “What has everyone been calling him?” she asked, surprised. “Doesn’t he have a nickname or something?”

  “Rio,” the man said immediately. “I’ve been calling him Rio.”

  “That’s lovely,” Abigail said. “Hello, Rio.”

  The baby chortled and stuck his legs out straight.

  “May I?” she asked, extending her arms.

  It was probably her imagination, but it seemed like the man hesitated just a fraction of a moment before handing the baby over to her.

  Rio was warm and just on the safe side of heavy in her arms. The sensation of holding him was heavenly. He smelled like warm milk and happiness.

  “Hello, my darling,” she whispered to him.

  “Bah,” he replied. “Bah, bah, ba-.”

  He stopped speaking suddenly, due to having crammed part of his fist in his mouth like a stopper.

  “I can’t wait to hear what you have to say when you get a little older,” Abigail told him, allowing her features to dance a little as she talked to him.

  His merry eyes followed every movement of her face. Gods, but he was a smart baby. She could just tell.

  “Ahem,” Rexx said politely.

  “So, what’s the plan?” Abigail asked him. “Where do we go from here?”

  “I will accompany you to your new home,” he said.

  “Oh, that sounds nice,” she said with relief. “We had kind of a bumpy ride getting here. I’m definitely ready to go home and relax.”

  “We’re walking down to town to catch the cross-moon train,” he told her. “You’ll be home with plenty of time to settle in before Founders Day.”

  Founders Day?

  She tried to remember when the colony at Lachesis had been founded and couldn’t.

  “Founders Day isn’t for another two weeks,” he said as if sensing her confusion. “But the train ride will take a few days.”

  She hadn’t been counting on spending her first few days with her new baby on a train, but it wasn’t so bad. In fact, it was kind of fitting. She’d certainly spent enough time riding them with her grandpa when she was young.

  “That’s fine,” she said honestly. “I like trains.”

  Rexx nodded and kept eye contact with her a little too long before he finally turned to head down the hill toward what she presumed must be the town with the train station.

  There was something strange about the way he looked at her - like she was familiar.

  Or maybe like he was attracted to her.

  She was definitely attracted to him, she decided. At first, she had thought the effervescence in her chest was just rapture at seeing the baby.

  But now that she was trying to separate the two, she could feel a sensation almost like a pull between her internal organs and the blue giant walking silently beside her.

  She couldn’t decide whether to be fascinated or annoyed by it.

  This is the biggest day of your life Abigail, she coached herself. Don’t worry about the guy. Focus on your son.

  Rio was gazing up at her with a serious expression, his baby body language telling her he was content, but curious.

  “I’m so happy to be with you,” she told him, lifting him up to kiss his little nose.

  He chuckled, and she lifted him higher.

  “Look at you,” she cooed, watching the breeze rustle his fluff of hair as she spun them both around in a gesture of pure joy.

  “I wouldn’t do that if I were—” Rexx began.

  But Rio spit up all over Abigail’s gown before he could finish.

  “Well, I’ll bet you feel better now, don’t you?” Abigail asked the little one, wiping a bit of spit-up off his chin with her thumb.

  “He just had his milk before meeting you,” Rexx explained, looking concerned. “He doesn’t normally do that.”

  “Oh, it happens all the time,” Abigail said. “Babies are messy. Kids are messy. I should know, I was a teacher.”

  She took the cloth he offered her and tidied herself and the baby up as much as she could.

  “You were a teacher?” Rexx asked, looking a little surprised.

  “I know, everyone says I look young,” she said. “But I’m nearly twenty-eight.”

  Rexx rubbed his jaw, but not in time for her to miss the fact that he was trying to hide a smile.

  Twenty-eight wasn’t that young. And who was he to smile? He couldn’t be that much older than she was.

  “Let’s get to town so you can change before we get on the train,” Rexx suggested.

  She glanced down at the horrible gown. It looked like something out of a horror holo now - wrinkled from her sprint across the meadow, still inexplicably low-cut, but also covered in badly cleaned up baby vomit.

  “That sounds great,” she told him, marching forward.

  This time, he didn’t try to hide his smile.

  2

  Rexx

  Rexx was a disciplined soldier. He had achieved high rank at a young age, and had been assigned to guard an Imberian whelp despite only serving a short time in the field.

  None of his accomplishments had happened by accident. He was proud of the dedicated work that had brought him to this moment, walking down this scenic hillside under the clouds of Lachesis, in the company of Rio and his adoptive mother.

  But he hadn’t gotten here by following his desires.

  The key to success as a career soldier for the Invicta was suppressing one’s own wants to serve the homeland.

  His only directive now was to protect the child.

  The problem was that his dragon was screaming in his head, sending his senses into a tailspin and threatening to ruin all he had worked so hard to accomplish.

  Mate, the dragon roared in anguish.

  The scent of the woman washed over him in waves. Not even the foul ejection of the whelp could cover her exquisite fragrance.

  We cannot claim her, he told the dragon desperately. Our directive is to protect the child.

  There is no directive that says it is forbidden to claim our mate, the dragon pointed out.

  But Rexx had not reached his position by finding loopholes.

  He stole a glance at the woman, hoping to discover some reason not to want her.

  But she was a perfect feast for the senses. Her hair was an unusual color that shone like burnished copper in the murky light. Her sweet scent filled his chest.

  She was murmuring something to the baby in a low, musical tone, a rapturous expression on her face.

  Well, she should be happy. The baby was exceptional.

  Rexx had not only cared for his physical needs, but his intellectual needs as well. Each night, he read to the boy from a book of old Imberian mythology, hoping to encourage his imagination and interest in books as well as to honor his heritage.

  After all, it was the fault of the Invicta warriors, like Rexx, that these babies were the last of the Imberian people. Long before Rexx had been born, his people made a grave military error that accidentally destroyed the peaceful race. After a long legal proceeding, they had finally been granted permission to grow a batch of pod-babies from the last of the preserved Imberian DNA. It was only right to preserve their culture along with their bloodline.

  As part of the agreement, Rexx was now sworn to protect the baby, just as Abigail had taken an oath to raise him.

  Rexx himself had needed an exceptional career record in order to be offered the opportunity to care for the child.

  And he was sure Abigail Shaw was exceptional too, or she would not be here. Many women had applied to adopt these babes. If she had been chosen over the rest, there was a good reason for it.

  Though a career as a
teacher was humble, perhaps she had won awards and honors in her field as well. He would learn soon enough.

  The dragon hummed in his chest, delighted that they had such an accomplished mate.

  She’s not our mate.

  But the dragon only chuckled.

  “So where is our new home?” Abigail asked, rousing him from his inner battle.

  “Across the mountains,” he told her. “It is very far, but we’ll get there in only a few days because of our transport.”

  “A train,” she said, nodding.

  “Not just a train,” he said. “The Iron Peregrine - the fastest track vehicle in the system. It has a Bhimani drive, just like a spacecraft, since solar cells won’t work on an overcast moon like Lachesis. It has top-of-the-line accommodations for travelers of many planetary types, and then of course, there are its topographical abilities.”

  “Ah, yes, my grandfather ran the Peregrine back on Terra-8,” she said proudly.

  Abigail Shaw…

  Gods of the realm, her grandfather must be Sebastian Shaw.

  How had he not made that connection right away? He felt foolish explaining the train to the granddaughter of the man who invented it.

  Everyone knew the story of Sebastian Shaw. He had been brought up humbly on Terra-8, where he had dreamed up the Peregrine. Through sheer determination, Shaw managed to work his way through the engineer’s academy, delivering transports on the night shift to make his tuition payments.