Luna’s Alien Mates

Chapter 1

Luna

The soft hum of the spaceship had become a second heartbeat over the last two months, constant and inescapable, yet tonight it seemed louder, restless, as though it too knew they were nearing the end of their journey.

She sat by the narrow window, palms pressed to her knees, staring at the endless sprawl of starlight outside. Two months ago, she would have laughed if anyone told her she would be here—crossing galaxies, leaving behind Earth, her small, messy life, and everything familiar. And yet here she was, about to step onto a new world that would never let her go back.

She had not applied out of some wild hunger for adventure. If anything, she had been running—from the job that drained her, from the loneliness of a life that seemed to blur into one endless cycle of exhaustion. From the way a stranger’s careless hand on her body had been the last straw, pushing her to grasp at anything different. She never expected that “different” would mean this. Marriage to a stranger. An alien. Forever.

Her heart thumped with a sickly mix of nerves and anticipation.

They had been told very little about the men waiting for them on Aarzyn. The Aashi. A people whispered to be strong, ancient, and desperate for women. Desperate enough to make deals with other alien races and Earth’s government. Desperate enough to accept human women as wives.

And she was one of them now. A bride traded across the stars.

The thought made her chest ache, though she pressed her lips into a small, defiant smile. What was left for her on Earth? A rented room in a crumbling building, a stack of bills she was always behind on, and no family to miss her. At least here, she had… a chance. A chance at something new.

Beside her, Quinn bounced on her toes, her curls springing wildly with every movement. “I’m so nervous I think I’m going to pee myself,” she whispered, but her grin was wide and bright. That was Quinn. Always laughing, always finding sunlight even in the darkest places.

Her laugh was contagious. Soon they were both giggling, trying to hold it in, their shoulders shaking against the sterile walls of the ship. For a moment, the heavy truth of what was coming slipped away, and it was just the two of them—two friends caught in something too big to understand.

But not everyone shared the mood. Jessica, tall and sharp with her blond hair in its perfect bun, shot them both a glare from across the cabin. “Grow up. We’re about to land.” Her voice was clipped, almost brittle, but beneath it there was a tremor, the kind that came from fear poorly hidden.

The others—Elle, Brooklyn, Hadley—were quieter, each lost in her own thoughts. They had become a strange kind of family over these months, thrown together by fate, bound by the same impossible future. Six human women carrying the weight of a deal meant to save Earth itself. And all of them walking willingly into marriages with men they had never seen.

The ship jolted slightly as the intercom crackled to life. Prepare for landing.

Her pulse skipped. She clenched her fists in her lap, breathing hard, trying to steady the chaos inside her. This was it. No more training, no more waiting.

“Remember,” one of the human agents said as he strapped a translator band around her wrist, “these will allow you to understand the Aashi, and them to understand you. Beyond that, you are on your own. Once you set foot on Aarzyn, you belong there.”

Belong. The word was sharp, too sharp. Did belonging mean chains, or could it mean home?

She lowered her gaze to the bag at her feet, the single backpack holding everything she was allowed to bring. Her entire life packed into worn fabric and a handful of clothes. It was almost laughable. Twenty-three years, and this was all she had.

Her throat tightened. She blinked hard, swallowing the sudden sting in her eyes. She would not cry now, not here. She had chosen this path, and she would walk it with her head high.

The ship shuddered, slowed, then stilled. Silence pressed down on them like a held breath before the doors slid open with a hiss.

Heat rushed in, thick and humid, curling around her skin. She lifted a hand to shield her eyes from the sudden blaze of light—light not from one sun, but two, both smaller than Earth’s but burning together with twice the force.

Her first step onto the ramp felt unreal, as though she were walking in a dream. The air smelled of spice and earth, cinnamon twined with pine, rich and wild. Her chest expanded as she drew it in, and despite her nerves, a shiver of awe ran through her.

The land before her was alive with color unlike anything she had known. Trees with leaves the shades of amethyst and ivory, grass that shimmered violet beneath the suns, flowers bursting in hues she had no name for. It was beautiful—strange and beautiful enough to steal her breath.

Gasps echoed from the other women.

And then Hadley’s whisper broke the spell. “Is that them?”

She followed the line of Hadley’s trembling hand. At the edge of the meadow where violet grass met the deep forest, figures emerged.

Tall. Broad. Moving with a grace that sent something hot and uneasy sliding down her spine.

Her lungs froze as they drew closer.

They were men—yet not men.

Skin in shades of purple that gleamed under the suns. Four arms, each corded with muscle, moving with unsettling ease. Long hair in deep violet shades, some braided, some loose, tumbling down their backs. And behind them, tails—two each, swaying like living extensions of their bodies, hypnotic and feline in their rhythm.

They wore little, only narrow strips of fabric at their hips, and there was no disguising the strength of their forms. Muscles honed and lean, every line of them built for power.

Her throat went dry.

She had prepared herself for monsters, for faces twisted and strange like the M’Mori soldiers who had ferried them here. But these men…

They were beautiful. Fierce. Otherworldly.

One of them, near the back of the group, caught her eyes. He was lighter in color than the others, his skin a soft lavender shade that almost glowed. And when he smiled at her, slow and unguarded, something inside her chest cracked open.

His eyes were large, dark, watching her with an intensity that made her stomach flip. His lips, curved in that gentle smile, were the same purple shade as his skin, yet it was not alien to her. It was… captivating.

Her breath shuddered out, heat curling low in her belly.

For the first time, she truly felt it—the truth she had been denying since the day she signed that contract.

This was not just a mission. Not just duty.

This was the beginning of a life she had not dared to imagine.

And somewhere among these towering, impossible men… was her husband.