Noble Monster: A Scifi Alien Abduction Romance Standalone (Jannan Raiders Book 1) Read Online Free PDF

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    A knock at the door alerted her. She figured that it was Miriam, and immediately called, “Come in!”
    The door slid open, and she blinked in shock as she saw Kaelon move somewhat hesitantly into the room. He was still wearing his polished armor, and in fact had a wine cup still in his hand. But what shocked her most was not just that he had decided to check in on her before the party was actually over.
    He had that worried look on his face again, and the first thing that he asked as the door slid closed behind him was, once again, “Are you alright?”
    She swallowed, her throat suddenly too tight for words, and nodded.
    “Had I known that that mongrel of a lion shifter still had designs on you, I would never have invited him to tonight's event.” He walked inside, keeping something resembling a respectful distance and settling into a chair across the room from where she sat on her bed.
    “It was never my intention to put you in danger.”
    “I guess I don't understand your criteria for keeping me safe. I'm your captive, remember? I'm here against my will.”
    He stiffened slightly, as if she had slapped him. “I know. But I...I do not understand how it is that I had to purchase you, and I had to bring you home, and why it is that I absolutely must keep you here, in spite of the fact that you reject me at every turn. This has never happened to me before.”
    “What are you going on about? Look. I don't just mean that I'm with you against my will. I mean that I'm on this planet against my will. I was supposed to be headed for the third planet from a star on the edge of the Crab Nebula, to catalog medicinal plants. The only reason that I'm not is that kidnappers from your planet intervened. Those kidnappers would not be grabbing human women out of the spacing lanes if people like you did not provide a market for the slaves they sell. So if you talk about how you absolutely have to be with me even if I reject you, do you have any idea how that sounds?”
    “No, I suppose not. I do not think that the translator does a very good job on certain concepts. I am simply trying to explain to you that my motivation is not to break you. It is not to use you. I have to be near you. I don't know why.” He laughed incredulously suddenly, startling her.
    “You are human, after all. We are genetically compatible on a basic level, but that doesn't explain how this could have happened.”
    “How what could have happened?” She was trying to keep the anger and skepticism out of her tone, since he seemed to actually be trying very hard to be nice to her.
    “On my world, true mates find each other instinctively. We only breed to humans to expand our genetic diversity, as our population is too small and we constantly risk inbreeding otherwise. But our greatest citizens and most powerful shape-shifters are always products of this instinctive mating with another member of our species. Yet...now something has changed.”
    He ran a big hand back through his wavy hair, face slightly tense. “The moment that I saw you, I knew that you the one I had been looking for. Somehow, you, a human, are meant to be my true mate.”
    She stared at him, a scowl on her face. “Look. I have no idea what you're talking about. All I know is, if you honestly think that this is true love, you are out of your mind once again. I am a kidnap victim. I have been held against my will. You are continuing to hold me against my will. What part of this is not translating properly? This is not how you treat someone you love. And if you think it is, once again. Out. Of. Your. Mind.”
    He sighed and looked ceiling-ward, a tight smile on his face. “Well, I can't blame you for feeling that way.” He sat back in his seat.
    “The truth is, I never gave much thought to what the slavers were doing. Most of us don't. We don't ask too many questions. We depend on them for new genetic material.”
    “You can get the same goddamn thing from a treaty, you