Adored by the Alien Assassin

Chapter 1-2

Rynn’s long strides took him through the corridors of the palace at a fast pace. One look at his big, powerfully built frame had most warriors he came across scuttling out of his way quickly. But it wasn’t just that they recognized him as an experienced warrior by the way he moved.

It was his hair.

Like most warriors in the palace, it hung around his shoulders, the rarely worn braids that marked his achievements tucked behind his left ear. But it wasn’t those that made warriors eye him warily. Many warriors had more braids than he had.

But none of them were blond.

His pale hair and blue eyes set him apart. Marked him as what he was, the son of the champion… and the emperor’s best spy. Marked him as the warrior who would be sent after them from the shadows if they gave the emperor cause to doubt their loyalty. Marked him as the death they’d never see coming… because no one ever did. And that had given him a name. There were many shadows in the empire, but only he was called by the name.

He grinned to himself as a couple of younger warriors scuttled aside quickly, their eyes wide as he walked past them.

“It’s him… it’s the shadow.”

“I didn’t realize he’d be so big!”

“They say he can disappear in plain sight.”

The whispers made Rynn chuckle as he turned the corner, heading for his father’s suite in the palace. He had quarters of his own, in another wing of the palace. One with less security than the Imperial wing that housed both the emperor’s suites and the ones allocated to the human females. He never knew when he’d need to leave quietly, slip away without every busybody on the palace guard knowing his movements.

“No… I cannot show you how to pilot a bot. It takes years of practice to handle even a remote avatar.”

Rynn pulled up short at the sound of his father’s voice, gruff with frustration, and frowned. Who was he talking to? Xaandril’s voice had been frustrated but also softer than Rynn had ever heard it, for all its roughness. And he’d explained something. In all the years Rynn had spent training, he’d never once gotten an explanation so easily out of his sire.

“Daaynal said we were to be trained to defend ourselves. Have you seen the firepower on those big combat bots? They’re f*****g awesome!” a female voice replied. Despite himself Rynn couldn’t help edging to the doorway the voices issued from and around until he could see the speakers.

The room was one of the lower ballrooms, which appeared to have been converted into a training room. Mats filled the center of the room with weight and cardio machines around the outside. A large weapons rack and training automaton sat under the window. None of that held Rynn’s attention as he looked back at the couple in the center of the room.

His father stood in the middle of the mats, his arms folded over his broad chest and a scowl on his face that would make even Rynn think twice about bothering him. But the woman standing in front of him didn’t appear fazed in the slightest by the murderous expression. Instead, she had her own arms folded and was matching the champion glare for glare.

“They have impressive weaponry, yes,” Xaandril admitted with a small incline of his head. “But that does not mean I will show you how to pilot one. Drakeen are deadly—”

“Exactly!” the human woman snapped back. “And exactly why one of us needs to be able to pilot one. We humans are woefully outmatched physically in a fight with any Latharian warrior, so we need to level the playing field.”

“There are other ways to do that,” the champion replied, enough of a sigh in his voice that Rynn suspected it wasn’t the first time he’d said that. “Combat exoskele—”

“Combat exoskeleton my ass!” the woman spat, advancing on Xaandril and jabbing him in the center of the chest with each word. “Daaynal showed us those the other day and they’re cute but child’s play.”

Rynn held his breath. His father was famous for his hair-trigger temper and lethal reactions. There were certain buttons even he didn’t press and this woman… he searched his memory of the briefing he’d been given on the human women for her name… Kenna Reynolds, was pushing all of them.

“Lady’s t**s, woman! Just leave it, would you? The drakeen are too much for most fully trained warriors to handle, never mind a tiny little thing like you!” Xaandril growled in frustration, shoving a hand through his close-cropped hair.

Ice fell in the silence of the room as Kenna folded her arms again and glared at Xaandril. “Oh no, you did not just say what I think you did… That us poor little females can’t handle this s**t?”

Oh. Crap.

Rynn hadn’t had much to do with the human women as a group, but he’d spent enough time with Karryl’s mate to know they were dangerous in a way his people didn’t really understand. Latharian women had been delicate, protected creatures who had been pampered and looked after their entire lives. They hadn’t been allowed to do anything that might put them at risk of anything more serious than breaking a nail.

Human women, on the other hand, were an entirely different matter… Tarrick’s mate had shot a purist who had tried to shoot her mate in the back right between the eyes while still in her wedding gown. Karryl’s mate, Jane Allen, had shot the male trying to rape her at point blank range, then taken on an entire ship of warriors to get her man out of there. Laarn’s mate, Jessica, had blown up the entire medbay to take out a purist group trying to kill her.

His father was so screwed. And not in a good way.

“Listen to me, blondie,” Kenna growled. “While Jane is on her honeymoon, I am responsible for my team’s safety and no pretty boy blond hottie is going to stop me doing my job. You reading me? Now, either teach me what I want to know, as per your emperor’s instructions… or I’ll find someone who will.”