Arik: Alien Adoption Agency #7 Page 2

  “Gah,” the baby declared loudly, her blue eyes twinkling.

  “Well, hi,” Lucy said, delighted.

  The baby chuckled heartily. A pair of dimples appeared on her chubby cheeks, and she stuck her arms and legs out straight, as if for emphasis.

  “You’re so funny,” Lucy told her. “You’re not even a little bit shy.”

  “Of course she’s not.” The warrior’s deep voice took Lucy by surprise. In her excitement over the baby, she had almost forgotten he was there. “Flora is very confident.”

  “Flora,” Lucy echoed.

  “Ha,” said Flora.

  “That is only her nickname,” the warrior told Lucy. “As her mother, it is your responsibility to give her a true name.”

  “I like Flora,” Lucy said. “It suits her. Her bright hair is like a flower.”

  The warrior nodded, his blue eyes catching hers for an extra moment.

  Something passed between them. Lucy felt an ache in her chest and a shiver of electricity go down her spine.

  The warrior took a step back, his eyes widening slightly, his huge chest expanding further as he sucked in a breath. She watched his muscles flex and felt an inexplicable urge to run her hands along them.

  Snap out of it, Solitude, she told herself. You’re here to adopt a baby, not lust after a stranger.

  But her body was way ahead of her. Even in the extreme cold, she felt like she was melting for him.

  “Greetings,” a droid voice announced.

  Lucy managed to tear her eyes from the great warrior to see the iron-gray box-droid approaching on massive rollers.

  “I am a box-droid. You may call me JO-3,” the droid said. “And you are Lucy Solitude.”

  “I am,” she agreed. “It’s nice to meet you.”

  “The pleasure is mine,” the box-droid said politely. “You have met your baby, and this is her guard, Arik of the Invicta.”

  “Her guard?” Lucy echoed stupidly, looking back at Arik.

  He gave her a nod, the cocky half-smile back on his face.

  “And your herd is on the field, of course,” JO-3 went on. “Twenty head of tundra bison, and four calves.”

  Lucy glanced at the gathered creatures as they snuffled along the ground, looking for rare bits of green stuff to munch.

  “They’re mine?” she asked, amazed.

  “Of course,” JO-3 replied. “You’ll need them for your tundra bison ranch. Are you familiar with the species?”

  “No,” Lucy said. “I assumed we were supposed to grow vegetables or something.”

  Flora squeaked, grabbed a hank of Lucy’s hair, and laughed her head off.

  Lucy smiled down at her daughter fondly, tundra bison forgotten.

  “Tundra bison are hearty creatures, bred for their nourishing milk, friendly companionship, riding, and their ability to survive both cold and warm temperatures,” JO-3 said. “Their manes can be shorn to collect soft wool. And their two-toed feet with thick claw fronts are ideal for walking in nearly any conditions, including sand and snow.”

  “Like a camel,” Lucy said, remembering the beasts from the storybooks about Old Terra.

  “How far away is the ranch we’re driving these bison to?” Arik asked.

  “Well, it’s on the edge of the Chocolate Mountains, of course,” JO-3 replied. “That’s ideal farmland, Lucy Solitude. You’ll be able to grow anything you like.”

  “Quite a hike though,” Arik said. “The Chocolate Mountains are along the volcanic ridge. You can just see it from here.”

  “I was in the Home Guard,” Lucy said lightly. “I can handle a long march.”

  The corner of Arik’s mouth turned up like he was about to smile.

  And in that moment, Lucy couldn’t decide which she wanted to do more - kiss that mouth, or slap it.

  3

  Arik

  Arik soaked in the sight of the delicious little Terran.

  The wind picked up slightly, sending a wave of her intoxicating scent to him. He inhaled, closing his eyes and drinking it in.

  A sense of wonder descended over him. Could this even be real?

  Mine, the dragon roared in his chest. Mate.

  The last thing he had expected when they gave him this assignment was that he would find female companionship. And he hadn’t been looking forward to practically being a monk for twenty standard years on a remote and frigid moon.

  The idea that the adoptive mother might be willing to let off a little steam with him had crossed his mind from time to time. After all, she would be isolated too.

  And he’d thought that might allow him extra time with Flora, too.

  In spite of all that he would insist to the contrary in front of his fellow soldiers, he adored the little whelp, and her every toothless smile brought him an impossible amount of happiness.

  But this situation?

  It was almost too perfect. He would have the woman and the whelp to himself for twenty standard years. There would be plenty of time to hone their mate bond and even make a passel of brothers and sisters for Flora.

  Everything was coming up Arik.

  Mate. Now.

  The dragon was already wild to claim her.

  He closed his eyes and tried to calm the beast inside him. They had to make it safely to the Chocolate Mountains, then he could stake his claim.

  He glanced back at the woman. Her gaze was moving appraisingly between the herd and the mountains.

  That easy assuredness of hers was excellent. He found her confidence overwhelmingly sexy.

  But there was no way she was staying this composed for long.

  While she might have served in the Home Guard, watching over her own carefully terraformed planet’s skies and waterways, she could have no idea what a frontier environment might mean for travel.

  For example, on Atropos, there would be no moving in straight lines. The shortest path from here to the Chocolate Mountains might be two or three times the span a winged creature would fly.

  “The distance will be greater than it appears,” JO-3 told her, as if reading Arik’s mind. “We must avoid the ice fields and the unstable lava terraces.”

  “What’s the safest path?” Lucy asked, without showing the slightest hint of fear.

  “We’ll follow the rivers, Lucy Solitude,” JO-3 told her proudly. “They’re fed by the hot springs, so we can avoid the ice along their shores.”

  “The cattle can feed at the oases too,” she said thoughtfully.

  Gods, but she was cool as ice.

  The breeze carried her scent to him again and a surge of need washed over him, leaving him almost breathless.

  The dragon clawed at him from within, desperate to lay claim to her.

  He clenched his fists to stop himself from grasping her to him, baby and all.

  “We’ll have to take great care with the calves,” JO-3 pointed out, oblivious to Arik’s inner struggle. “Patience is the name of the game.”

  “We’ve got nothing but time,” Lucy agreed.

  “In a sense,” JO-3 said politely. “In a more accurate sense, we have a limited time to make each segment of the journey, if we don’t want to get stuck on the ice plains at night. They’re very dangerous. And we have precisely enough supplies to make it on schedule with only one night’s buffer. Atropos is many things. But forgiving is not one of them.”

  Arik braced himself for her reaction.

  He was almost looking forward to watching her lose her mind at the stress of her situation on a strange new world. Would those pretty hazel eyes flash? Would color brighten her pale cheeks?

  Would she turn to him for help?

  Ask him?

  Beg him?

  But Lucy only nodded coolly.

  “I see,” she said.

  Arik was truly impressed. This little Terran girl was unbelievably stoic, when she should be falling apart.

  4

  Lucy

  Lucy was falling apart.

  Keep it together, Soli
tude, she instructed herself. You can’t show weakness in front of the warrior.

  She hadn’t liked his indulgent half-smile about the Home Guard one bit.

  It was typical for the Air, Sea and Land Forces back home to roll their eyes at counting the Home Guard as an arm of the Terra-9 military.

  But for an Invicta Guard to laugh at her was truly unfair. The Invicta were the most elite force in the system, but they also had virtually limitless resources. And they could shift into mighty dragons if the going got tough.

  Lucy was willing to bet she had roughed it just as much as Arik and his brothers in arms had done, with their fancy armor, high-tech crafts, and mind-blowing physical abilities.

  Besides, I’m someone’s mother now. I have to stay calm and collected for Flora’s sake.

  But her stomach was tied up in knots. Those mountains might as well be a million miles away. And the icy path to get them there didn’t look too welcoming.

  “We’ll get there,” she told JO-3. “We don’t have a choice.”

  “It will be a pleasure to serve you, Lucy Solitude,” the droid replied.

  “You can just call me Lucy,” she told it. “So who are those other people?”

  The droid turned to face the herd of bison and the two bundled up people walking among them, seemingly counting the cattle.

  Instead of answering, the droid rolled toward them and gave an earsplitting whistle.

  Both figures looked up and then jogged over, an impressive feat given how much they were bundled up.

  Lucy glanced up at Arik.

  His eyes lifted from Flora’s face and rose to Lucy’s, and again she felt that sizzle in her blood, like she had just chugged a bottle of her Uncle Rexa’s hot sauce.

  “Howdy,” a man’s voice said, snapping her out of her spicy thoughts.

  She turned to see one of the two bundled beings waving in her direction with a hand that seemed to be short a digit, but she couldn’t tell which one, and she thought it would be rude to stare.

  “That’s Miles,” JO-3 explained. “And this is Charley. They’re your hired hands for the trip to the ranch.”

  The droid gestured toward the second bundled figure.

  “Hello, I’m Lucy,” she said politely to the one called Charley.

  Miles had removed his head gear to reveal a ruggedly handsome, smiling face. Dark chestnut colored hair fell around his ears in loose curls. His eyes were chocolate-brown and crinkled from his warm smile.

  Arik let out a huff, but when Lucy turned back to him, he was smiling.

  “Good to meet you,” he said to Miles, offering his arm. “Arik.”

  Miles clasped it. “Pleasure is mine.”

  Charley pulled off the head gear too, revealing a shimmering mane of auburn hair.

  “Hey there,” she said, offering Lucy her arm.

  “H-hi,” Lucy said, surprised.

  “You thought I was a dude, right?” Charley confided.

  “You were bundled up so much,” Lucy said weakly.

  “Well, sorry to disappoint,” Charley said with a wide smile and a wink.

  “I’m not disappointed at all,” Lucy told her, recovering. “It will be great to have another woman on the adventure.”

  “Adventure, eh? I like her,” Charley announced happily to no one in particular.

  “If everyone is ready?” JO-3 said worriedly. “Our timetable leaves little room for pleasantries.”

  “Of course,” Lucy said. “What do we need to do?”

  “I’ll take it from here, JO-3,” Charley said, pronouncing the droid’s name Jothrey, which made Lucy smile.

  “Excellent,” JO-3 said. “I will check the sleds.”

  “Thank you so much for accompanying the baby here,” Lucy said, turning to Arik, feeling reluctant to say good-bye. “I’m sure you’re eager to begin your next assignment.”

  “Very true,” he said. “But since that’s a ways off, we won’t say our goodbyes just yet.”

  “A ways off?” Lucy echoed.

  “I’m Flora’s guard,” Arik said.

  “Until she settles in,” Lucy mused. “That makes sense.”

  “Until she grows up,” Arik corrected.

  Lucy blinked at him. Until she grows up?

  “So, for the next twenty standard years. I guess that makes us colleagues,” he told her, winking and then striding toward the bison.

  She was shocked, and oddly relieved.

  It’s just because he’s a dragon warrior, that’s all, she told herself.

  “You didn’t know about that, huh?” Charley asked her. “Seems like your day is full of surprises.”

  Lucy shook her head.

  “Those Invicta screwed up royally on Imber,” Charley said. “They wiped out the whole planet, and those poor people never meant any harm to anyone.”

  “That much I knew,” Lucy said. “They used DNA to create pod babies, like Flora. The babies will inherit the wealth of Imber when they grow up.”

  “You got that right,” Charley said. “But each baby is assigned an Invicta guard until they reach maturity and can inherit that planet of theirs. I was friends with one of them big fellers once. Told me all about it.”

  “They assumed the adoptive mothers would be helpless,” Lucy said, trying not to get offended.

  “I don’t think that’s how they would talk about it,” Charley said. “But you can ask Arik. He’s gonna know more’n me.”

  Lucy nodded, knowing she probably wouldn’t ask Arik. The big warrior made her feel off-balance enough as things were. She didn’t want to risk offending him or getting mad at him. After all, they were apparently about to spend twenty standard years together.

  “You two will be riding with the baby in one of the wagons,” Charley said, pointing to a huge carriage.

  It was piled high with packages, the only empty space a bench seat in the front.

  Seven inky black beasts in front of it shook themselves, their breath pluming in the frosty air as Miles checked their harnesses.

  “What are those?” Lucy asked.

  “On the Terras I think you would refer to them as wolves,” Charley said. “Here we called them shadow dogs. Of course they’re much larger than wolves, and they share a hive mind, almost like ants.”

  “And they’ll be pulling the wagons?” Lucy asked.

  “They’ll be pulling the wagon you’re riding in,” Charley said. “Two of the bison will pull the other. For a journey like this one it’s best to have different kinds of wagon beasts, just in case.”

  Lucy wanted to ask in case of what, but she also wanted to get settled with Flora so she could take in everything she had learned so far.

  “They’re beautiful,” she said as they drew closer.

  Each creature had a satiny black pelt and dark, sparkling eyes.

  “Beautiful, yes, but also dangerous,” Charley warned her. “Don’t try to pat them. You’ll pull back a stump.”

  “Noted,” Lucy said.

  “Miles has trained them since they were pups,” Charley told her. “But one of them took the pinky finger on his right hand one day, just because she was out of sorts.”

  Lucy nodded. Some animals just weren’t meant to be tamed. She would keep her opinion to herself for now, but she certainly wouldn’t be keeping these things on her ranch, no matter how beautiful and useful they might be.

  In her experience, anything that could go wrong, would go wrong. And having beasts like that around was asking for trouble.

  Arik strode back to the wagon and swung himself up in one effortless motion.

  “Can I help you up, Lucy?” he asked, offering her a hand from the bench seat above her.

  “See you at the next break,” Charley said, heading toward the bison without waiting for Lucy to answer.

  “Sure,” Lucy told Arik.

  Even though she knew they were going to spend twenty years together, like it or not, even though she braced herself, and even though she swore it had only been he
r imagination before… she still felt a rush of heat go through her as he took her hand and pulled her into the wagon.

  She cried out a little as he swung her up, and he smiled as he settled her beside him.

  In her arms, a sleepy Flora chuckled and went back to her baby dreams.

  “She’s got the right idea,” Arik said, spreading a huge fur blanket over his legs and Lucy’s. “It’s going to be a long ride.”

  Snuggled under the fur with Arik’s muscular thigh pressed up against hers, it was hard to concentrate.

  “You want to sleep on this thing?” Lucy asked.

  “Nope,” he said. “But I do want to relax. Who knows how many chances we’ll get?”

  He leaned back until his whole side pressed against hers.

  She thought about trying to scoot away, but she didn’t want to go any closer to the edge of the bench seat.

  And besides, he was deliciously warm.

  “Ready?” JO-3 asked, rolling up beside their wagon, giving the shadow dogs a wide berth.

  “Of course,” Lucy said.

  JO-3 whistled at the hands, who were each mounted on one of the big tundra bison, then clucked at the rest of the cattle, and the entire caravan began to move.

  The cattle poured onto the hard packed dirt road first, followed by Lucy and Arik’s wagon. A massive supply wagon pulled by two bison and driven by an old-fashioned prairie droid brought up the rear.

  As they made their way slowly across the sepia-toned tundra, the blue serpentine of the river trailing them to the east, Lucy tried to picture what her new life would look like.

  But her mind kept getting stuck on the burly dragon warrior at her side.

  5

  Lucy

  Lucy watched the shaggy cattle lumbering ahead, and tried not to focus on the mountains on the horizon, and the vast distance they needed to travel reach them.

  “Is this what you expected?” Arik asked after a while.

  “I kind of thought it would be snowing,” she admitted.

  “It’s too cold for snow here,” he told her. “At least most of the time. And that makes it much easier to travel.”