Romulus (Scifi Alien Romance) (Cosmic Champions) Read online

  Romulus

  Cosmic Champions

  Luna Hunter

  Contents

  Also by Luna Hunter

  Romulus

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Epilogue

  Afterword

  Preview of Nero

  Preview of The Zoran’s Bride

  Preview of Alien General’s Baby

  Also by Luna Hunter

  About the Author

  Also by Luna Hunter

  Cosmic Champions

  Nero

  Zoran Warriors

  Alien General’s Baby

  Alien Warrior’s Baby

  Alien Soldier’s Baby

  Alien Guardian’s Baby

  Galactic Mates

  Thabo

  Fenrir

  Bojan

  Novak

  Dusan

  Zivan

  Vukan

  Drakan

  Barbarian Brides

  The Zoran’s Bride

  The Zoran’s Mate

  The Zoran’s Baby

  The Zoran’s Fated

  Celestial Mates

  The Alien Prince’s Captive

  Copyright 2017 Luna Hunter.

  Published by Luna Hunter at Amazon.

  This work of fiction is intended for mature audiences only. All characters represented within are eighteen years of age or older and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. This work is property of Luna Hunter, please do not reproduce illegally.

  Romulus

  Romulus has the body of a Greek God.

  The rough, domineering hands of a brute.

  And the wicked, dirty mind of an animal.

  He’s everything I hate.

  So why do I crave him?

  Alexa Oakle’s life is neat and organized. She studies, teaches and works on her PhD. That’s it. There’s no room for men in her life — not after the incident. She’s mere months away from finishing her thesis when her conceited supervisor assigns her an unusual task. Refusing it means losing her PhD, losing everything she worked so hard for, so she has no other choice than to accept…

  Her test subject? The tall, brooding, dominant alien general.

  The location? His alien ship.

  Alexa has to interview the alien warrior. The moment she sees his broad, perfect frame, she was nothing more than to turn and run from the strange feelings taking hold of her — but she can’t. She’s locked up in a ship with Romulus, a growly alien warrior, for better or for worse…

  Can she resist him?

  Or will she give into temptation?

  ROMULUS is the second book in the Cosmic Champions series, but can be read as a stand-alone. It’s an instalust, fated mates romance, featuring a dominant alien warlord and the strong human female who learns to love his rough touch. No cliffhangers, Happily-Ever-After guaranteed!

  Chapter One

  Romulus

  My heavy boots echo down the hall, the human soldier next to me trembling. He glances at my sword, which is easily as tall as he is. He wanted me to surrender it. I told him to fuck off.

  Fuck off — These humans have such strange sayings, but I like this one. It’s short and to the point. Direct. Powerful. It perfectly encapsulates how I feel about the humans: Fuck off.

  The top of my head nearly scrapes against the low ceiling. This human space station wasn’t built for Elban warriors, that’s for damn sure.

  “Are we nearly there yet?”

  “Y-yes,” the soldier trembles. “Through here.”

  A man with a chest full of pins and a bushy mustache obscuring half his face awaits me. He’s sitting behind a glass desk, every muscle in his body wound up tightly.

  Nero told me all about his man.

  Five-star general George Bowers. One of the human leaders.

  Behind him, through a large transparent window, I can see the human planet. Earth. A blue-green globe, one our small crew of Elbans might have to call home. The portal to the Idriana system is closed, and we are here to stay… for better or for worse.

  General Bowers doesn’t speak until the soldier who guided me here has left.

  “You,” he bristles. “I told you to stay away!”

  The last time I encountered the general, I disabled all of his multi-billion dollar weaponry with a flick of my wrist. He obviously hasn’t forgotten.

  Without saying a word I remove the sword from my back and place it on the table, which groans under its weight. The general’s eyes grow wide as he takes in the sheer size of it. I sit down across from him, the chair way too small for my large frame.

  Bowers shudders with rage, his cheeks turning red.

  “What do you want?!”

  A good question. What do I want?

  To smash his face in. To take control of this pitiful station. To show the pathetic earthlings what a true warrior looks like.

  Nero Octavius forbade me from doing all of those things. He says we have to live ‘in harmony’. Find ‘common ground’.

  How we are supposed to do that I do not know. We Elbans are nothing like the humans. We are strong, dominant, powerful… they are small and weak.

  Yet, I must follow Nero’s orders.

  I have sworn loyalty to House Octavius. Even though Magnus Bruttius destroyed our home, killed our paterfamilias Gaius Octavius, gave me a massive scar that runs diagonally across my face and effectively exiled us from our home planet… House Octavius lives as long as Nero does.

  I will follow his commands to the letter.

  Though, I will never understand his fondness for the humans. He has even taken on a human mate, Victoria Snow! Nero says she’s his fatum, brought to him by the wings of fate.

  Fatums are things of legends.

  Then again, I saw Nero shift into a beast in front of my very eyes, horns and fangs and all… perhaps the legends are true.

  I smirk at the general as I try to remember Nero’s instructions.

  “We come in peace.”

  “Hah,” Bowers says. “If that’s so, why do you carry that sword with you everywhere?”

  “Protection,” I say as I run my fingers down the blade.

  “You attacked us without provocation, why should I trust you?! I don’t even know where you’re from!”

  “I’ve told you this before. We come from the planet Elba, which is in the Idriana system.”

  “Bullshit.”

  “Just because you don’t believe it doesn’t mean it is not true. And you did provoke me, for you held Nero Octavius captive. I was rescuing him. You would have done the same for one of your people. Now we have returned, and we are here to stay. I am here to broker a peace.”

  “Peace?” the general scoffs. “We will never have peace!”

  I rise from my seat and lift up my sword.

  “Is that a declaration of war?”

  “Now hold on,” he stammers. “Hold on. I didn’t mean…”

  Give me a reason, little man. Just one reason. I will follow Nero’s orders to the letter, but the moment you give me a reason to end your miserable life I will take it.

  The human leaders runs his fingers through his moustache, beads of sweat dripping down the side of his cheeks.

&nb
sp; “If what you say is true…” he starts.

  “It is.”

  “Then you are an alien.”

  “Correct.”

  He leans back and takes a deep breath. It seems the reality of the situation is finally sinking into that small head of his. “We can’t have the public knowing that… there would be chaos!”

  “Why?” I say. “Did you really think you were alone in the universe or something? That humanity was the pinnacle of evolution?”

  I can barely suppress a condescending chuckle. These humans are more arrogant than I thought.

  “Do you have any idea how big the universe is? The chance that you were the only sentient beings is so abysmally low I can’t believe anyone would ever have seriously considered it.”

  “Yeah, well, that’s neither here nor there.” The human male twiddles with his fingers. “We have to control the flow of information. I have to make some calls, but I can offer you a truce, if you promise to play by our rules.”

  “And what are those?” I growl.

  “You stay on your ship, for now, until we figure out a way to deal with the whole aliens-are-real-and-they’re-here situation. Oh, and you allow a researcher on board.”

  “A human on my ship? Never.”

  “Then I don’t know what to tell you. You’re asking the US military to harbor aliens. You know how many conspiracy theories I’m proving true just by talking to you? If this gets out, it could be very bad news for us. If we’re lying about aliens, what else aren’t we telling? No. Trust me, you want us to keep this quiet and under wraps. If the world finds out, you’ll have scientists from every nation trying to dissect you. You don’t want that. I can keep that from happening… but you’ll need to help us out as well.”

  The last thing I want is a human scientist on our warship, trying to steal our weapons and technology. Having Victoria Snow around is more than enough human for one ship.

  Yet, if this is all he’s asking… I can keep one scientist busy enough that he won’t learn a damn thing.

  “Fine,” I growl. “One human. No more.”

  Chapter Two

  Alexa

  “Alexa, step into my office.”

  Dr. Bellamy’s voice is icy, as always. He stares at me from across the hall, his cold eyes locked onto me. A shiver runs down my spine.

  My friends warned me that Dr. Bellamy was a hard-ass when I applied for the PhD position here at the University of Florida, but I dismissed all of their concerns. All supervisors are self-absorbed bastards, right? Comes with the territory of being a successful academic. Nothing I couldn’t handle.

  Or so I thought.

  “Good luck,” Mary whispers, glancing up from her laptop.

  “Thanks,” I answer.

  Trepidation fills me as I cross the small hall towards my supervisor’s office. It’s only a couple of yards, but it feels miles away. The difference between my workspace and Dr. Bellamy’s office is night and day.

  “Sit down.”

  Every word my supervisor utters makes me wince. I’m a young professional, a talented, smart, independent woman — so I don’t understand how Dr. Bellamy can make me feel like I’m five years old again.

  Perhaps it’s his thick, horn-rimmed glasses that remind me of my old principal… or it could be the fact that as my PhD supervisor, my entire career is in his hands.

  “What do you have to say for yourself?”

  “Sir?” I ask, glancing up, pushing my glasses up the bridge of my nose.

  Dr. Bellamy looks even larger than normal, sitting behind his stately desk. The shades are drawn, and it feels humid and hot in here.

  I can barely breathe.

  He opens a drawer, pulls out a report and throws it down on the table so hard I wince.

  “This horse-shit,” he says. “You were going to publish this with my name on it? Without my permission?!”

  Heat rises to my cheeks.

  “You misunderstand,” I say. “I emailed you repeatedly and asked if you could take a look at it, but…”

  “But what, Miss Oakley? But what?! This drivel could sink my career!”

  My heart is racing like mad. I poured hours and hours into that paper. I know it’s good. I didn’t graduate with honors without knowing how to write a damn paper.

  I’m certain he didn’t even read it. As my supervisor, he’s automatically the co-author of everything I publish… it’s not my fault he didn’t read it when I practically begged him to.

  Not that it matters — there’s no reasoning with Dr. Bellamy when he’s worked himself into a rage.

  He rises from his seat, towering over me, jabbing his finger into the air.

  “In all my years I’ve never met anyone with as much gall as you, Miss Oakley! Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t kick you out of my program right now?!”

  My heart skips a beat, and for a moment all I see is stars.

  Kick me out?

  What?

  He can’t do that.

  I’ve been here for three years.

  Three whole years.

  I gave them all to that man, that bully. I’m mere months away from finishing my PhD thesis. And now he’s threatening to cut the cord? To kick me out?

  I’ll never get another job in academia again if that happens. Dr. Bellamy is the leader in the field of biology, one of the most influential professors around.

  My entire career is in his hands now.

  “I-I don’t understand,” I stammer.

  “I’ll make you understand,” he barks, spittle raining on me. “Your work is shit, Alexa. Shit!”

  With one stroke of his arm he wipes my paper off his table. He sits back down and runs his fingers through his greasy hair.

  “You’re lucky the editor at Nature contacted me, instead of printing this drivel. You would have been out on your ass. Now, I don’t need to do that. Necessarily. But you need to make it up to me, missy. You have a lot to make up for.

  He presses a button on his intercom.

  “Mary, bring me some water, would you?”

  I stare down at my shoes, my heart thumping like a drum, as Mary comes in and brings Dr. Bellamy a glass. He treats Mary and me like we’re his maids, instead of the budding scientists that we are.

  I don’t dare to even glance up at my best friend as she walks past. I’m sure she heard every word of his thundering speech.

  I can’t believe what he’s asking of me.

  Make it up to him?

  How?

  If he’s thinking about that… then no. I’d rather he kick me out. I’m not degrading myself for an old man.

  He won’t be my first.

  “Look up, Alexa.”

  I take a deep breath. When I open my eyes I fully expect him to have his pants around his ankles. That’s how these things go, right? I’m the young, helpless intern, and he’s the boss with all of the power… I thought that if I worked hard enough, no man would ever be able to humiliate me again.

  I was wrong. This is prom all over again.

  I open my eyes… to see a big stack of papers in front of me. The logo of the armed forces catches my eye.

  “This is your last chance,” he says, looking at me expectantly. “A special assignment. I expect you give this your full 100%.”

  “What is this?” I ask as I reach for the stack.

  Dr. Bellamy pulls it away, and hands me a form.

  “It’s top secret, Miss Oakley. You have to sign this first.”

  My eyes dart across the page, and several words jump out at me.

  Non disclosure agreement.

  Treason.

  Life imprisonment.

  “Wh-what?” I stammer. “You expect me to sign this?!”

  My blood turns to ice as it all sinks in. If I sign this form, and I tell a single soul about what the army want me to do, they will charge me with treason and lock me up for life.

  Dr. Bellamy grins.

  “The military doesn’t fuck around, Alexa. If you wa
nt to keep your position here, you better sign this NDA, do whatever they want you to do, and keep your mouth shut.”

  “I don’t even know what I’m signing up for!” I say, exasperated. “How can you expect me to do this without telling me what it actually is?!”

  “That’s the beauty of it,” he laughs.

  The bastard hands me a pen.

  “Now sign on the dotted line… or get the fuck out of my office. Your choice.”

  I stare down at the dotted line.

  I’m trapped.

  Screwed.

  I sign.

  Chapter Three

  One restless week later…

  Alexa

  I still have trouble wrapping my head around it.

  Aliens.

  Actual aliens.

  They exist.

  Not only that, but they’re here. In our galaxy.

  And I’m going to meet them.

  A gruff looking soldier fastens the straps around my chest so tightly I can barely breathe. We’re sitting on a shuttle, only mere moments away from lift-off.

  About to leave Earth itself.

  “You okay?” he asks.

  “I’m fine,” I lie.

  I’m not fine.

  I’m about as far from fine as any human being can be.

  I’m scared out of my damn mind.

  Aliens. Aliens!

  I didn’t believe the report at first. I thought Dr. Bellamy was playing a cruel joke on me… but he assured me in no uncertain terms that this report was dead serious.

  Aliens — who call themselves Elbans — have arrived on Earth. They kidnapped a woman, Victoria Snow, and disappeared again… and now they’re back.

  And it’s up to me to learn as much about them as I can.

  My mouth is as dry as sandpaper, and with every passing moment, the dark pit in my stomach grows.

  The soldier sits down next to me and grabs the control stick. In front of him are so many buttons and switches it makes my head spin.

  I close my eyes and take a deep breath.

  “You’re looking a bit pale. First time going into space I take it?”