Alien Pirate's Bride: A SciFi Alien Romance (Moon Company Brides Book 2) Read online

  Alien Pirate’s Bride

  Moon Company Brides Book 2

  Tia LaBeau

  Contents

  Also by Tia LaBeau

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  What’s Next?

  Copyright © 2017 by Tia LaBeau

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Cover Art by Rebecca Frank

  Photography by Jenn LeBlanc/Illustrated Romance

  Created with Vellum

  Also by Tia LaBeau

  Moon Company Brides Book 1

  Alien Miner’s Bride

  1

  Freda

  I risk my fucking life sitting on this ship. I try to keep my profile low just in case some of the Governor’s goons are here, waiting and watching for that perfect moment to kidnap me and kill me.

  All sorts of beings surround me aboard this ship. The Proteans, which include the people of Partrox, the Edeners, the Yahwahs, the Chigarans, the Githrans, and the Mastvans, are all represented on this ship, and there’s also the humans who inhabit the entirety of the system Teros. The only beings missing are Haveners. I haven’t seen any of them since I boarded.

  I’ve seen on the news feeds that there has a been a terrifying number of ship attacks perpetrated by Havener Pirates. Maybe the transport system is systematically weeding out Havener passengers for fear that they may be pirates.

  As of right now, the Havener pirates are the least of my worries. I’ve been warned that the Governor of Mars, Hiternum Furmi, may be looking for me, possibly as a way to get back at my sister Cleo for killing his son Zeid Furmi. Traveling in this instance is hardly my best friend.

  What the governor doesn’t know is that I’m the one who killed his son Zeid Furmi. Look, Zeid tried to rape me, so I had to let him have it.

  It was a harrowing experience, one which I wish not to think about too much. I’d rather put the past behind me. I don’t want to be one of those people defined by all the bad shit that happens to them.

  I mean, bad shit counts. It makes you tough, right? It shapes who you are and all that, but fuck all if I ever allow myself to let what some fucker does to me tell me who I am or what I’m worth. To do so would be to allow further rape for the rest of my life. Fuck that.

  Unlike me, my sister, Cleo has around the clock security in the asteroid belt complements of Rock Security. Rock Security is a private security firm headquartered on Mars. Mr. Drek, the head of Rock Security has tasked some of his agents with the job of watching Cleo’s back to protect her from any retaliation the Governor has in mind.

  I’m rolling solo dolo on this transport ship. A ship assistant passes me. I clear my throat loudly. “How about you give me something from that tray, lady?” I say.

  The ship assistant is Partroxian. Green as earth’s grass. She has white hair and sea green eyes. She’s dressed in the standard ship assistant uniform which consists of a gray tunic and high squishy gray boots. Me, I’m wearing green skinny jeans, pink squishy boots, a white t-shirt, and a pink jacket. My sister Cleo is always telling me that I dress too bright.

  I guess describing my outfit as bright would be an understatement. I stick out like a sore thumb on Earth’s Moon. On Earth’s Moon, people wear mostly neutral colors, mostly blacks, whites, and gray, but mostly black. The ship assistants would feel right at home on the Earth’s Moon.

  “I have all the standard libations along with some imported ones,” the ship assistant says. She doesn’t smile. Partroxians don’t have smiling in their repertoire of facial expressions. Fine with me. I’ve met many people who smile in your face, but would just as soon as shoot you in the back if they had the chance.

  “I’ll take a Vee Bee beer, please. Thank you very much,” I say.

  Vee Bee moon is a standard beer from one of Jupiter’s moons. I think the distillery of the Vee Bee beer company is located on Europa.

  Europa is a nice place. It’s a sprawling metropolis along with Io. The ship assistant hands me my Vee Bee Moon. I love Vee Bee Moon bottles. I guess I’m as foo-fooey as Cleo says. The Vee Bee moon bottles are frosted gray, and they have furry collars around the neck. The beer’s bottle top has a hole which you can puncture, and the beer comes with the standard Vee Bee Moon straw which is pink. Sorry, but fuck it if I don’t love pink.

  I take a sip of the Vee Bee beer. Ah, it goes down cool. It’s sweet and has a hint of earth strawberry in the flavor. My sister Cleo hates Vee Bee beer. I should have bought her a case of Vee Bee beer just to piss her off.

  “So what brings you aboard?” the ship assistant asks me.

  “I’m going to see my mister. That’s sister plus mother equals mister. She raised me. She just had a baby. I’m an aunty now, and I’m determined to be one of the first people to hold the baby’s hand.”

  “That’s nice,” the ship assistant says. She turns to a Mastiva fellow sitting in the other aisle. The Mastiva has to sit in a seat specially made for the Mastiva. The Mastiva are huge. They are always at minimum seven feet tall. That goes for male and females.

  “Can I help you, sir?”

  “I’ll have the same as her,” he says, pointing to my beer.

  The ship assistant hands him the beer and continues to make her way up the aisle of the transport. I tip my head at the guy.

  “I hope you enjoy. This is my favorite brew.”

  He smiles. Mastivans have no problem smiling. “So, I’m sure I’ve seen you before,” he says.

  “I don’t think so,” I say.

  “No. I have. Are you installed at Moon Company Brides Moon?”

  “Ah, yes I am.”

  “I’ve seen your biographic video. You seem to be a fun one. Find a match yet?”

  “In fact I have. I am promised to a male from Edenu.”

  “That’s nice. I had you in my top five. I guess I’ll have to take you out now.”

  I grin. “I’m flattered.”

  “I’m going home to earn more credits. I work in the asteroid belt on the asteroid Quora.”

  “Cool,” I say.

  “Well, congratulations and cheers,” the Mastivan says.

  I continue to sip my beer. My marriage to the Edener is going to have to wait. The timing for this trip I’m taking is funked. I’m supposed to be marrying my match soon courtesy of Moon Company Brides. Moon Company Brides is an intergalactic mail-order bride agency.

  Moon Company’s primary market is marrying humans off to alien immigrants from Protos. It’s not a requirement. It just so happened that the business rolled out that way.

  Celeste, the head of Moon Company Moon headquarters is going to kill me. I dashed
out of the Moon Company Headquarters without telling her. My sister, Cleo sort of, gave Celeste charge over me after the cluster fuck of all cluster fucks occurred on Mars. This all happened like nine months ago.

  I can understand Celeste’s anger. The contracts have already been drawn up for me to solidify the arrangement, in the hall of ceremonies, between the Edener and me. As a matter of fact, the ceremony was supposed to be happening right about now, but the contracts haven’t been signed, which means that I’m still a free woman.

  My future husband is a hottie. He’s from the planet Edenu in Protos. Edeners are like giant cat people. My future husband is running for Senator on Io, and he’s rich. Celeste also told me that he is generally agreeable.

  Celeste wouldn’t have let me accept his selection if that hadn’t have been true. I’ve gotten nothing but the V.I.P. treatment from Moon Company thanks to Celeste. And this is how I repay her, by running off without telling her, putting myself in danger, jeopardizing her business. I hope the Edener doesn’t cancel his reservation.

  Even though I heavily fantasize about Havener pirates, to the point that I touch myself thinking about them when lying in bed alone at night, I know that a Havener husband is not in the cards. I heard Haveners are all about keeping their race as clean and pure as possible. They actually hate human women enough not to get them pregnant. At least that’s what everyone says.

  I’ve yet to meet a Havener pirate myself since most of them are largely considered to be fugitives. Makes sense, considering they make their living stealing shit. Stealing shit is totally illegal in Teros unless you’re a crooked politician like the Governor Hiternum Furmi. If you’re him, you can even get away with murder.

  My sister Cleo is going to be pissed at me too. She told me not to come because I’d be putting myself in danger. I disobeyed her. Hey, I’m an adult. I’ll do what I want.

  “Attention,” a voice over the intercom says. “Please brace yourselves. There’s a Havener pirate ship approaching.”

  “Wait, oh shit! Did she say pirates?” I look over at the Mastivan and pardon me for thinking this, but I hope he’s got his can of whoop ass open and ready. I mean he’s huge, so he should be able to do some kind of damage to the pirates.

  2

  Freda

  No, not fucking pirates. One of two terrible things is most likely to happen. Either the pirates will kill us all and dump our dead bodies into space, or they’ll throw us off the ship without pods which will mean certain death.

  There’s also a third option that I’d rather not think about where they keep those of us they’d like to sell on the undermarket sex slave trade. With potential human capital, ship parts, and whatever material goods the passengers have on board, this is the perfect score for pirates.

  I’m stuck on stupid. I don’t know what to do. I jump out of my seat and run for the pods at the back of the ship. A human ship assistant with blond hair and blue eyes puts her hands out. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you. If you get a pod out, you’ll draw individual attention to yourself which will more than likely get your hurt.”

  “So you mean to tell me that I should just sit here and wait. I can’t run because I’m likely to get killed.”

  “That’s exactly what I’m telling you,” the woman says.

  “Didn’t I hear something on the news feeds about arming these ships. You know to fight back if necessary against the pirates.”

  “There was talk of it, but it has not been implemented I assure you.”

  “What about a space martial?”

  “We don’t have one on board. The space martials are on strike.”

  “What!”

  I rushed out of the Moon Company Moon headquarters so fast that I hung up on Xerxes. Xerxes is my sister’s husband. He’s from Sewvi.

  I go back to my seat. “Can you believe they allowed this ship to leave without a martial?” I ask no one in particular.

  The Mastivan next to me says, “They said so at the ticket booth.”

  “They did?”

  I didn’t read shit, and I skipped through all the verbal disclosures. I guess I was in such a hurry that nothing was going to stop me from boarding this ship to go see my sister and her baby.

  A human woman sitting in front of me turns around. Tears stream down her face. “Oh no, what if they rape us?” she asks. “It’s against my religion to have sex with an alien. You know, the Havener pirates have been stealing ships as of late. I knew I should have stayed home. They say they rape. Haven’t you heard that, that they rape, on the news feeds?”

  The human is a Jovian. I can tell by the Jovian arrow necklace she wears around her neck. Jovians are forbidden from engaging in any kind of sexual relationship with the aliens from Protos. According to the Jovian religion, to do so would be a sin.

  I try to think of something to say, to offer the woman a bit of comfort, but I can’t think of anything.

  “Are you a Jovian?” the woman asks me.

  “Nope, I’m a free agent.”

  “There’s time to accept the Jovian goddess into your heart and womb.”

  “I don’t think so, thanks but no thanks,” I say.

  However, if I thought that being Jovian was going to spare me the death, then I’d convert right now on this ship, but I think it’s overzealous to assume that certain death or rape, as the Jovians believe is to come. Not all pirates are rapey. So far my experiences with rapey types include a rapey run-in with my phys-ed teacher in senior school and the Governor’s son Zeid Furmi. Neither of those two should have been rapists based on their social standing and resumes—at least according to stereotypes.

  Funny how profiling gets it so wrong much of the time. That doesn’t mean that the pirates won’t try to rape us. It just means that they’re not more likely to do it just because of their profession. And don’t even get me started on human privilege. There’s a group of humans who assume that all Protean aliens are hungry for sex with a human. These same people believe that the aliens will do anything to get it said sex from humans. If we’re talking about Proteans as a whole, this is absolutely untrue.

  But, if they do try it on me, because let’s face it some people just happen to be rapey, I’ve got a shank, and I won’t hesitate to kick them in the juts if need be. “This is a crazy system we’re living in,” I say to the woman. Stating the obvious sometimes helps a person to feel better about the situation at hand. I have to admit, though, that I still feel like crap.

  I hear a scream come from somewhere, so I duck down on the floor. I whisper to the lady in front of me, “Hey, you ought to get down too.”

  As soon as she ducks down, the lights flicker on the ship. I hear more screaming and the sound of things slamming against stuff. My heart is pounding. I ball up as much as I can, but my back will only curve so far. I hear scuffling. I jam my eyes shut and keep them that way.

  I hear a blast and a groan. Suddenly, I’m yanked up off of the floor by the collar of my jacket. Before me is the red face of a Havener. He smiles at me. His mouth is full of gold teeth.

  The pirate grabs me with his hot Havener hands and drags me from my seat. I notice that the Mastivan has been shot, not killed, but tased. The Mastivan is frozen in a suspended state. The pirate drags me down the aisle. All the males and non-human females are frozen in a suspended state, and all the human females are gone.

  When I get to the front of the ship, there’s a gathering of human women, including the Jovian woman who was sitting in front of me. I feel so bad for her. Heck, I feel bad for all of us.

  There are three other Havener pirates standing in front of us. Two of the Havener pirates stand in a sort of protective way over us women, I guess to make sure no one tries to run.

  Another pirate leans back up against the wall. His foot is kicked up as a prop. He looks bored. He has a handsome face. He’s about as cute as the Havener pirates in my masturbation fantasies. We lock eyes. He smirks.

  “What the heck is that?” I ask, pointing to a
small furry creature sitting on the pirate’s shoulder. The furry creature has three eyes. It’s red like the Haveners, tiny, about the size of a small monkey.

  The pirate leaning against the wall says, “This is my pet, Bingo.”

  “Pet? How about best companion in the universe?” Bingo says. He smiles at me.

  Some pet. Not only does he know how to talk, but he speaks English.

  One of the pirates speaks Havener to a loner pirate who stands up against the wall. I have no idea what he’s saying. If I thought I could reach my tablet without getting shot, I’d use it to translate what he’s saying.

  “It’s rude to speak in another language,” Bingo says from the pirate’s shoulder. “They do not understand Havener. You’re scaring them unnecessarily.”

  “Quiet, Bingo,” the loner pirate says.

  I raise my hand in the air. The loner pirate pushes off of the wall, walks towards me, leans in, and whispers in my ear, “Put your hand down.”

  I lower my hand and grit my teeth.

  The pirate tips his head toward me, and the two protective pirates grab ahold of me. I squirm, jolt, trying to get loose.

  The Havener pirate standing against the wall says something in Havener. One of the Havener pirates pats me down while the other holds in with my arms locked behind my head. Havener hands are so warm.

  Thank the universe that they don’t burn. They take my tablet, my comm, and my shank and toss them to the pirate who stands against the wall.

  “Hey,” I say as they drag me toward the exit of the ship, “How about a joke? You know, to lighten the mood.”

  No answer.

  “I have a good one. I promise.”

  The pirates look at each other.

  I go for it. “So, how do you organize a space party guys?” I ask. I smile.

  Still no answer.

  I feign a chuckle. “You planet. Get it? You planet!”

  The two Havener pirates exchange angry looks. I suppose they’re not amused and neither am I, it’s a bad joke, but it’s all I have. The pirate, with his back up against the wall, stands there with a completely annoyed look on his face. As if he can’t be bothered to deal with the intricacies of pirating a ship. I think he’s the boss of this whole operation.