Princess for the Alien Commander by Tammy Walsh

Ikmale

For the secondtime in as many hours, the palace alarm blared.

Only this time, it had nothing to do with me or my imprisoned honor guard…

Except maybe for having made the poison to carry out the crime, of course.

I exchanged a look with Bena, who rolled over and got comfortable on his cot once more.

“How long do you think it’ll take for them to finger us and check to make sure we’re still in our cells?” he said.

We got the answer twenty minutes later when a contingent of palace guards marched into the dungeon and quickly carried out a headcount.

They soon realized we were all accounted for.

Not us, guv. We’re innocent.

They glared at us, no doubt sensing we must have had something to do with it but unable to prove it.

They carried out a second headcount and left a pair of guards to watch over us.

Those two guards made me more nervous than I let on.

If the guards wanted to blame someone for the king’s murder, who better than the kauah who’d snuck into the palace only hours earlier?

They would likely kill us and plant our bodies at the scene to make it look as if we were the ones responsible.

But that took leadership, and with the king gone, who was there to give the orders?

No one but Sofia.

And with how warm and genuine her kiss had felt and how right her body had been in my arms, I didn’t think she was capable of sentencing us to death for a crime we didn’t commit.

Not unless she accepted a dark and twisted part of herself linking her with her father, a part of her that I had never seen once in the days I’d known her.

She could be trusted, I knew.

And if she couldn’t, well, then I would prefer to meet the hangman’s noose before learning that fact.

It wastwo days later when we heard the bells ringing in the distance.

They had to be the great cathedral’s bells that sang so loudly they could be heard for miles around.

There were only so many ceremonies that could justify the use of the bells ringing like that and the accompanying rise and fall of the entire city cheering with joy.

Either a wedding—and surely Sofia wouldn’t subject herself to another one of those in a hurry!—or a coronation.

About an hour later, my cell door was unlocked and I was released.

They took me first and I raised a hand to allay my men’s fears—not that there was much they could do from behind their solid metal bars.

“Her highness wishes to meet with you,” Ujok said.

The palace guards dressed me in shackle cufflinks and took me up the stairs.

Butterflies fluttered in my stomach even though I’d been expecting this invitation for two days already.

I feared Sofia had been caught and suddenly it occurred to me that there was a third reason the bells might be rung and the city might cheer:

A public execution.

I forced the idea from my mind and focused on taking each step higher to the truth.

The palace was largely empty when I finally reached the ground floor and emerged, blinking into the light.

They led me into the throne room.

It too was largely empty.

At the end, sat in a throne so large that it swamped her, sat the newly minted queen.

Queen Sofia.

She was gorgeous in the rich red and golden fabric.

Her father’s crown must have been resized for it to fit her so well.

On either side of her stood two assistants.

One leaned over to whisper in her ear but she raised a hand to silence him.

He swiftly pulled back and exchanged a concerned expression with his counterpart on the other side of the dais.

The guards brought me to a stop and pressed my shoulders down to force me into kneeling.

They needn’t have bothered.

I’d worshipped her ever since our wedding day.

“Rise,” Sofia said.

The butterflies batted firmly in the pit of my stomach.

Now was the moment of truth.

Were my hopes going to be realized?

Was she going to live up to my expectations and become the ruler I knew she could be or was she going to slip into the empty darkness the way her father had?

“Remove his chains,” Sofia said.

“Your Majesty,” the assistant said in a whiny voice, “he’s a prisoner, a criminal, and a very dangerous one at that—”

“I will not repeat myself,” Sofia said quietly, threateningly.

The assistant stepped forward to repeat her order but Sofia beat him to it.

“The guards heard my order,” she said. “You don’t need to repeat it.”

Chastened, the assistant stood back in place once again.

He ground his teeth, clearly not liking to be talked down to this way.

The guards removed my shackles and I felt their release immediately, but my eyes never moved from Sofia.

Her eyes were intense, focused, as concentrated as laser beams.

“What do you wish of me, my Queen?” I said.

Sofia couldn’t keep the cold expression up and it broke into a million fragments revealing a fierce grin.

“You are my husband, my love, and your place is by my side.”

She motioned toward the throne that sat beside hers.

“I had it especially made for you. You’re a little bigger than my mother.”

I didn’t sit on the throne.

“My people must be free. They won’t follow a human blindly.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it,” Sofia said, mindful of our audience. “I will rule over the human territories and you will rule over the kauah. I hope that one day we can bring our two peoples together in a way never seen before. A new dawn of peace and equality. What do you say, husband?”

I grinned at her.

“I say, sign me up, wife.”

I rushed up the steps as Sofia shrugged off the cloak and tossed the crown and scepter aside.

I threw my arms around her as we gave in to each other.

All our kisses had been showstoppers but this one took the human cake.

I bent down and scooped her up into my arms.

The assistants and palace guards looked taken aback.

“Please excuse us,” Sofia said. “My husband and I have some important business to attend to.”

I carried her upstairs and into our new bedroom and laid her down.

As I spread her legs and entered her, I found her already wet and ready for me.

I filled her physically the same way she filled me emotionally.

She joined with me as I joined with her.

Our bodies and minds and souls became one, the same way our two peoples would with time.

We made love so desperately I refused to close my eyes for fear of missing even a single moment.

Whatever we did in the future, it would be done together, with our peoples’ best interests at heart… and our beds worn to destruction.

We were fated mates.

For always and forever.

* * *

I hope you enjoyed PRINCESS FOR THE ALIEN COMMANDER. I’m currently writing the next book in the series. While you wait, why not check out my completed series FATED MATES OF THE TITAN EMPIRE?

Abducted by aliens and bound for a breeding zoo.

And then things got worse.

I was abducted by aliens.

Yep, you heard me right.

Aliens.

But they’re not little green men.

They’re gorgeous creatures called Titans.

Heaven help me.

Hard.Callous. Cruel.

That’s how the crew describe their captain.

After their attempted mutiny, he comes to me for aid.

Help him recover from their poison and he’ll return me to Earth.

There’s just one catch.

Healing requires the use of my body for one whole night.

If I give him what he needs, will he keep his word?

And will sleeping with him make me his fated mate for all time?

Grab your copy of OWNED BY THE ALIEN now!