Pursued: A Sci-Fi Alien Warrior Romance (Raider Warlords of the Vandar Book 4) by Tana Stone (world best books to read .TXT) 📕

I choked out a teary laugh. “That’s true enough.”

“I love you with all of my heart, Alana.” Bron tipped my face up and kissed me. “I pledge all of myself and all of my horde to you. Forever.”

“I love you, Bron.” As strange as it should have felt to tell anyone I loved them after I’d spent most of my life making sure not to get close to anyone, the words spilled naturally from my lips. “I can only offer you me, but you’ve got all of me.”

This time when he kissed me, his mouth was searching, and I sank into the warmth and solidness of him. When he finally tore his lips from mine, he smiled down at me. “Ready for one more surprise?”

I nodded, breathless, taking his hand as he led me away from the transport and toward city gates that looked vaguely familiar, if not significantly more weathered.

“This was where I lived,” I said, my voice cracking, and my heart thundering in my chest. “Just beyond these gates.”

When I saw the two people standing just to the side of the stone gates, my knees wobbled. Raas Bron slid his arm around my waist to keep me upright as we continued forward, but my vision was too blurred to see anything but a flurry of arms, as my parents ran to me, wrapping me in their hugs as they sobbed. Tears streamed down my face as they held me, and a lifetime of loneliness fell away like discarded armor.

Even though Bron had stepped away, I still felt his love for me as he watched the reunion he’d so carefully planned. He’d given me something that, as an orphan, he could never have himself. He’d given me back my parents. As much as it must have brought him joy, I suspected there was also longing for what he could never bestow upon himself.

I pulled back from my parents to look at them and wipe away my tears through the smiles and laughter. Then I found Bron and locked my gaze on his.

“I’m guessing you already know Raas Bron?” I asked my parents, holding my hand out to him. “He’s my—“

“Fiancé,” he finished for me, giving a deep bow to both my parents. “With your blessing.”

I cocked my eyebrow at him. He’d clearly read up on my people and their ancient traditions. The Vandar raider continued to be everything I needed, and none of the things he was rumored to be. He was, and would always be, my one true mate and my only true love. It seemed foolish now that I’d ever thought otherwise.

“Actually,” I said, after my parents had thanked him and hugged him and thanked him again. “I’ll be his Raisa, which means the mate of the Raas. So he’s family now.”

Raas Bron took my hand in his, turning it over and lifting my wrist to his lips, where he kissed it so delicately a shiver ran down my spine. “My Raisa.”

Then I pulled him into a hug with both of my parents as they threw their arms around the big, tough Raas and showered him with kisses. Laughing at his flushed cheeks and embarrassed pleasure, I swiped away more tears. After being so alone for so long, I finally had a family again. And so did he.

Epilogue

Corvak

I stalked from one end of the room to the other, ignoring the view out the triangular window. There was nothing to see anyway. Nothing I hadn’t seen when I’d been escorted to my new home.

“Not for long it isn’t,” I growled as I spun on my heel and stomped back toward the door.

I might have been exiled from my horde, but that didn’t mean I was doomed to live the rest of my life on Kimithion III. I tore a hand through my hair, my body vibrating with rage as I thought about the planet I’d been dumped on.

Some might find the stark landscape of the planet, with its sharp mountain spires that jutted into the air and encircled expansive, turquoise shallows, to be appealing, but for me it was nothing more than a temporary prison.

I finally peered out of my quarters. The suns were sinking below the distant peaks, turning the sky a startling shade of purple. Stars had already begun to appear like faint dots as the last rays of pink light faded. For a Vandar raider who’s spent most of life in the blackness of space, the colors and the light were another reminder that I was no longer on my horde ship or with my people.

The quarters I’d been given were built into the mountains, like all residences on the planet, and paths wound through the rock connecting the hollowed-out spaces like a maze. At least that felt familiar, as the inside of a Vandar warbird was a twisting labyrinth much like this rock-hewn city. But that was the only thing that reminded me of my horde. My horde that had left me and flown away.

Jerking my head from the setting suns, I sank onto the window ledge. As much as I wanted to hate Bron for what he’d done, I’d given the Raas no choice. I’d defied him and taken the female he’d claimed as his mate. Even thinking about it made my face flush with shame.

I’d been so convinced she was working for the empire. I’d been sure of her duplicity and certain that she was a threat to the horde. Sure enough to risk everything that mattered to me to prove it.

But I’d been wrong. At least, I hadn’t found any reason to convince the Raas I was right, and she should not be trusted. I’d gambled when I’d challenged him—and I’d lost.

The battle with my former brother-in-arms flashed through my mind. I’d been a fool to challenge a sitting Raas, even one who’d recently been my equal. The horde did not tolerate insurrection or disloyalty. It couldn’t.

The bitter taste of bile rose in my throat as I thought of