Alien Romance: The Alien's Bliss: A Sci-fi Alien Warrior Invasion Abduction Romance Read Online Free

to be on our guard not to let this happen. I should have cautioned my men more carefully to expect you.”
    “You did,” Carmen told him.
    “I told them to expect the Lycaon Alpha,” Renier replied. “They must have expected something like the Ursidrean army showing up here, not a shadow creeping alone out of the dark.”
    Caleb stood up. “Not alone.” He whistled over his shoulder toward the path, and Marissa appeared.
    Aimee jumped up. “What are you doing here?”
    Marissa sat down next to her. “The same thing you’re doing here. I couldn’t let all of you take part in this negotiation without seeing it for myself.”
    “But I thought....” Aimee stammered.
    Marissa didn’t smile. “I threw up once on the way here, but other than that, I held up pretty well. At least I didn’t slow Caleb down.”
    “She ran very well,” Caleb said. “I told her to wait out there in the dark while I approached the camp.” He nudged Renier. “I expected something like this, too.”
    “So what are we going to do, now that Caleb is here?” Chris asked. “How are we going to approach the Avitras?”
    “I really don’t know,” Donen replied. “Aquilla is likely to cut my throat the instant he sees me. Maybe the Felsite and the Lycaon should go without us.”
    “Aquilla hates the Felsite as much as he hates the Ursidreans,” Renier countered, “and I don’t want to face the Avitras alone. The only way to stop him launching an all-out attack is for all of us to approach him at the same time. He wouldn’t dare attack any of us with the others standing by.”
    Anna spoke up. “I’ve been thinking about this a lot on the way here, and I think I have an idea.”
    Donen pricked up his ears. “What’s that?”
    “Instead of approaching Aquilla,” Anna replied, “we should approach Piwaka instead.”
    “Who’s Piwaka?” Aimee asked.
    “He’s the Captain of the Avitras Border Guard,” Anna replied. “He helped me free Menlo from Aquilla. I couldn’t have done it without Piwaka—and Penelope Ann.”
    “Has anyone thought of contacting Penelope Ann?” Carmen asked. “Maybe she’s the one we should be working with instead of the men.”
    “We’re here because we can work together in a way the Angondrans can’t,” Emily added. “Maybe Penelope Ann can get through to Aquilla.”
    “If anybody can get through to Aquilla,” Anna replied, “you can bet Penelope Ann is doing everything she can to do it. But we can do more by approaching Piwaka. We should at least try it.”
    Menlo spoke up for the first time. “I don’t like it. The Avitras are dangerous at the best of times. Going behind Aquilla’s back will only aggravate him more.”
    “You’re still wary after your experience,” Anna told him.
    “You bet I’m wary,” he shot back. “Anybody would be wary after what they did to me.”
    “But you know as well as anybody that Piwaka is a reasonable man,” Anna pointed out. “He wants peace as much as we do, and he’s the one person who actually has some pull with Aquilla—except Penelope Ann, of course. If we can convince Piwaka, Aquilla’s bound to go along with us.”
    “Not necessarily,” Menlo countered. “If Aquilla wants to dig in his heels, nothing will move him. Renier is right. We should all be prepared to fight.”
    Anna shook her head. “I say we at least try to convince Piwaka. He controls the Guard, so he’s the real power behind the Avitras.”
    “Piwaka’s an old man,” Menlo told her. “He won’t be around forever, and when he goes, we’ll have no one to deal with but Aquilla. If we’re going to negotiate for peace with the Avitras, we have to approach Aquilla head on and not sneak around behind his back.”
    “I understand both your points of view,” Renier remarked. “Both have merits, and we still have no idea what we’ll find when we get to Avitras territory. We might find only Aquilla. Piwaka could have resigned as Captain of the Guard. Or we might