Damaged: A Sci-Fi Alien Romance (Fated Mates of the Kalixian Warriors Book 7) Read online

  Damaged

  Fated Mates of the Kalixian Warriors #7

  Presley Hall

  Copyright © 2021 by Presley Hall

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, organizations, places, events, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  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.

  Sign up for my newsletter to stay updated on all my latest releases!

  Fated Mates of the Kalixian Warriors Series

  Claimed - Book 1

  Stolen - Book 2

  Rescued - Book 3

  Bound - Book 4

  Broken - Book 5

  Consumed - Book 6

  Damaged - Book 7

  Tempted - Book 8

  NOTE: Each book in this series can be read as a standalone, but for maximum enjoyment, it’s recommended that you read the series in order.

  Voxeran Fated Mates Series

  Her Alien Prince - Book 1

  Her Alien Savior - Book 2

  Her Alien Beast - Book 3

  Her Alien Warrior - Book 4

  TBA - Book 5

  NOTE: Each book in this series can be read as a standalone, but for maximum enjoyment, it’s recommended that you read the series in order.

  Contents

  1. Cora

  2. Druxik

  3. Cora

  4. Druxik

  5. Cora

  6. Druxik

  7. Cora

  8. Druxik

  9. Cora

  10. Druxik

  11. Cora

  12. Druxik

  13. Cora

  14. Druxik

  15. Cora

  16. Druxik

  17. Cora

  18. Druxik

  19. Druxik

  20. Cora

  21. Druxik

  22. Cora

  23. Druxik

  24. Cora

  25. Druxik

  26. Cora

  27. Cora

  28. Druxik

  29. Cora

  Epilogue

  Also by Presley Hall

  1

  Cora

  Fall has always been my favorite season, but I never thought I’d get to experience it on an entirely different planet.

  Then again, there are a lot of things I never thought I’d experience that have become almost mundane by now. After several months of living on Kalix, I’ve become accustomed to walking past massive, bronze-skinned warriors with horns and loincloths on the street. I’ve gotten used to the two moons that shine in the sky at night, and the occasional whoosh overhead as a ship takes off from the docking bay, swooping over the city before heading up and out of the atmosphere.

  It’s all real. Aliens. Life on other planets. So many things I never knew existed.

  And even though it’s awful that the women here were all snatched from Earth against our will, I’ll always be grateful that the Kalixians rescued us from the disgusting Orkun warlords who intended to take us as their “tribute brides.”

  God. What would’ve happened to us if we hadn’t been rescued? What kinds of horrors would we have had to endure?

  A shiver runs down my spine, and I push away those dark thoughts as a crisp breeze blows my wavy hair around my face. I tuck a light brown strand behind my ear, inhaling deeply.

  The air smells clean, like everything on Kalix. There are no gas fumes or other emissions here. All of this planet is, for the most part, pure and unspoiled nature.

  The seasons on Kalix are much shorter than what I’m accustomed to on Earth, with summer being the longest of their seasonal cycles. And we’ve been told winters here are mild. I don’t expect to see snow unless we leave the capital city of Jocia to go up into the mountains for some reason.

  “Let’s go to the stall that sells live flowers,” Lucy says, tossing her long blonde hair over her shoulder as we turn down the street that leads to the marketplace. “I want to surprise Tycran with a new plant.”

  Harper chuckles. “I can’t believe that man likes to garden. He’s so reserved and strong and… brawny. It’s hard to imagine him digging in the dirt.”

  “I know.” Lucy smiles secretively. “But there are a lot of hidden sides to Tycran.”

  Her eyes shine when she talks about her mate, and I see Rose and Harper exchange knowing looks, glancing at each other with matching grins that say they both know exactly how she feels.

  Rose was the first one of us to form a mate bond with one of the Kalixian leaders. She fell in love with Tordax, the commander of the Alpha Force, after they rescued us. Harper was a bit more resistant to her bond with Malav at first, although she came around to it before long.

  Lucy’s bond is still pretty new, but one of the things that’s most surprising about the mate bonds—to me, anyway—is that they don’t seem to fade. Out of all the human women rescued by the Kalixian warriors, there isn’t a single one of us who hasn’t experienced heartbreak, or seen divorce, or been subject to the never-ending string of hookups that seems more common than commitment back on Earth.

  But it’s as if whatever cosmic force chooses the partners for the bond does it perfectly. I’ve never heard of a mate bond dissolving, aside from instances where one of the bonded pair dies. And even then, those who lose their mates to death rarely seem to find another. Things that always seemed like fantasies back on Earth—unconditional love, one perfect match for every person, a spark of passion that never dies—all seem possible here.

  For most of the women, anyway.

  “I should get a new dress,” Rachel says thoughtfully. “Maybe I’ll wear it the next time there’s a festival, and one of the warriors will notice me.”

  Lucy grins at her. “I can confirm that dancing is an excellent way to find a mate.”

  Nadia, the youngest of the women rescued by the Kalixians, blushes a little. Her sister shoots Lucy a slightly disapproving look, although Lucy doesn’t even notice it. Brielle and Nadia were abducted together. They’re the only ones among us who didn’t leave behind everyone they knew on Earth, and maybe because they have each other to lean on, they tend to keep to themselves a bit.

  I’m glad they came out to the market today. Although they’ve never been unfriendly or cold, it’s nice to see the two of them joining the rest of the group. The closeness that’s developed among everyone, especially considering how many of us were outsiders or loners back on Earth, is truly incredible.

  As we approach the stall with the plants, all of us oohing and ahhing over the beautiful flowers and bright green herbs in their small clay pots, I have one of those moments where it strikes me all over again just how strange this really is. Less than a year ago, I would never have believed that I’d be shopping with a group of girlfriends in a market stall on an alien planet, looking at flowers that none of us have ever seen before.

  But here we are. And we’ve stuck together since the day we woke up in that cell on the Orkun ship, without cattiness or fighting or jealousy.

  It helps that we all know the mate bond is out of our hands, so there’s no need to compete over the men. But it’s also because, even though we’ve been completely accepted by the Kalixians, we’re the last humans each of us will ever know. It’s made a sisterhood out of us, a different sor
t of bond.

  The Kalixians welcomed us and accepted the mate bonds between our two species because we can save them from extinction.

  But here on Kalix, we’re the last of our kind.

  “I want one that will bloom through the fall,” I hear Lucy saying to the seller as Rose leans against a nearby post, stroking her belly lightly as she tries to catch her breath from the walk. She’s showing heavily these days, her stomach full and round, and she tilts her head to whisper something to Harper, whose own belly is growing every day.

  It won’t be long now until Rose has her baby, and we’ve been encouraging her to slow down, but she’s stubbornly insisted that the exercise is good for her. And on a beautiful day like today, I can’t blame her for not wanting to stay indoors.

  She gives a little gasp, then laughs as she looks down at her belly. “Wow. The little bean is kicking up a storm today.”

  “Sounds like you’ve got a warrior in there,” Rachel says with a chuckle, and the other women laugh too.

  Everyone on this entire planet is excited about the soon-to-be-born babies, and I can’t help but feel a small twinge of envy as I watch Rose cradle her stomach with one hand. She and Harper are both pregnant, and from the whispers at Lucy and Tycran’s recent celebration, it won’t be long before Emma announces her own pregnancy.

  Autumn has had a sort of secretive glow about her lately, and although Jade and Lucy haven’t said anything, I don’t doubt that they’ll follow suit soon. After all, part of the reason we’re here is because we can not only mate with the Kalixians, but produce the children needed to save their species.

  I push the flicker of jealousy away almost as quickly as it comes, reminding myself to be grateful. The experiences of the women who have mates and those who don’t on Kalix are different in many ways, but we all have a wonderful life here.

  “Cora! Will you help me choose a plant?” Lucy looks at me pleadingly.

  “Sure. I wasn’t much of a botanist even back on Earth, but I can tell you which ones look prettiest to me.” I smile and cross over to the stall.

  She grins at me as I come to stand beside her, nudging my shoulder with hers. The sweet, familiar gesture reminds me all over again that I have so much to be thankful for. I have a close group of friends, more than I ever had on Earth, a small but nice place to stay, and I’m treated with respect by everyone.

  There’s no catcalling here, no rude or dangerous men—to the women, at least—and no fear of walking alone. And in the past months since the edict was passed officially allowing us into Kalixian society, Emma and King Khrelan have been hard at work making sure that the women who want to work can do so, helping all of us integrate into society even more.

  I don’t feel like I’ve found my place here yet, but I’m confident that I will eventually. Even though I had a plan back on Earth—to finish college, to become a teacher, to buy a house one day in my sleepy little New England town—and even though that plan went all to hell when I was abducted, I still feel happier here most days than I did on my home planet.

  I hate the Orkun who abducted me, but even though I despise them for taking me from Earth, I’m glad my path led me here. I love Kalix. It sometimes feels as if I’m meant to be here, even if I don’t quite know why yet.

  “Okay. Which one do you like best?” Lucy points at three small flowering plants in different colors. Her thick blonde hair is tied up in a messy bun so that her luminous blue eyes stand out, and she squints a little as she studies the flowers.

  “Didn’t you say Tycran’s favorite color is red?” I point to the one with waxy green leaves and small red blossoms bursting out of tiny blueish pods. “He’ll probably like that one.”

  “Yeah. He does love red.” Lucy blushes for some reason that I don’t know—and probably don’t want to know. “But he has so many red flowers already. Red and purple, mostly.”

  “So blue, then.” The blue flowers are delicate and tiny, no bigger than a pencil eraser, with thin white veins running through the petals.

  “Good call,” she says cheerfully. “Thanks. I think he’ll love that one.”

  While Lucy is paying for Tycran’s gift, I look at the plants again. There’s one that has rows of small purple flowers, almost like wisteria on a much smaller scale, and I pick it up on a whim, deciding to buy it to decorate my little pod. It’ll warm the place up and make it feel more as if it’s “mine.”

  “Let’s go look at the clothing stalls!” Rachel says excitedly as Lucy puts the plant carefully in the small fabric bag that’s slung over one shoulder. “I want to look for that new dress.” She smiles at me. “Maybe you should get one too, Cora.”

  I shrug. “Maybe.”

  Honestly, I don’t really have much to get dressed up for. If I see something I really like, I might buy it just for fun, but I know there’s no point in trying to attract the attention of one of the warriors. The mate bond isn’t something I can hope for. And although sometimes I get an ache in my chest when I see the other women pairing up, I’m learning to be okay with it.

  Rose heaves herself away from the spot where she was leaning with a little help from Harper, and we continue down the long row of stalls.

  The shopping makes for a nice morning out, and after lunch, we finish getting the few things we need and split up. Lucy, Harper, and Rose head off to return to the homes they share with their mates, while Nadia, Brielle, Rachel, and I start walking back to the building where our pods are.

  Our route takes us near the palace, where two Kalixian warriors stand on one side of the street, speaking to each other with serious expressions.

  They’re both wearing loincloths, and their bronze skin gleams in the sunlight, offset by the dark marks that swirl over their chests and shoulders. One of the men has dark, long horns that curve around his head, while the other warrior’s horns are shorter and lighter colored.

  “…heard about the Orkun,” one of them says as we pass by, and my footsteps stutter a little.

  My stomach clenches in a visceral reaction to that single word. Even though the Orkun are less of a threat now than they used to be, I’ll never forget my terror at nearly being claimed as a sex slave by one of their warlords.

  Biting my bottom lip, I try to eavesdrop a little as we walk by, curious as to what’s happened now.

  “That mission Tycran and his mate pulled off really hit them hard,” the warrior continues, satisfaction evident in his voice. “They’ve been set back so badly that word is they’re going to sell their latest batch of tribute brides at auction, instead of giving them to their warlords. Try to recoup some losses and figure out their next move.”

  “I heard the king and queen are discussing sending a team to go rescue the women.”

  “Good. It’s a worthy mission.”

  Their conversation continues, but I barely register the words. My breath catches, and a strange prickling sensation washes over my skin, a feeling of urgency rushing through me. With a sense of purpose that I haven’t felt in a long time, I turn to the other ladies.

  “I actually forgot I was supposed to meet Emma this afternoon,” I tell them. “I’ll see you later, okay? I’m going to go up to the palace.”

  The three of them look a little taken aback by my abrupt pronouncement, but then Rachel shrugs.

  “Sure. We’ll see you around,” she says with a smile, waving before she and the two sisters continue down the street.

  With my heart pounding out a heavy beat, I turn and stride toward the steps of the palace.

  2

  Druxik

  A low hum of conversation surrounds me as I file into the war council, accompanied by my fellow Alpha Force warriors and fighters from a few other squadrons.

  King Khrelan and Queen Emma are already in the room, seated at the head of the long table. The king glances over at her as they wait for everyone to arrive, his hard features softening for a moment. His fingers are entwined with her delicate ones, his body leaning ever so slightly toward hers
.

  If anyone doubted the strength of the mate bonds between Kalixians and Terrans, all they’d need to do is take one look at our king and queen. The love they have for each other is plain to see.

  It almost makes me envious, although I’ve never truly considered the possibility of having a mate—not even when it became clear that this was more than just one or two of the Terran women matching with our warriors.

  I don’t often feel lonely. I have a strong brotherhood in my fellow warriors, and if I want pleasure, it can be found in many places off-world. I’ve availed myself of plenty of female companionship during our travels. I’m no ascetic monk like Tycran, and I’ve never seen any reason to deny myself. I take what pleasure I can from this world, where it’s offered. My entire life has been spent training hard and fighting hard, striving to be the best in all things. That has been more important to me than finding a mate.

  As we all find our places in the large room, an aura of hope permeates the air. It’s a feeling that has been long absent and is very welcome. Everyone is in good spirits, smiling and talking amongst themselves as we wait for the last members of the council to be seated so that we can begin. It’s a far cry from the subdued councils of the past years, as we all tried to stave off what felt like impending doom for as long as possible.