Alien Knight Blind Date Disaster (Lumerian Knights Book 3) Read online

  Alien Knight Blind Date Disaster

  Lumerian Knights, Book 3

  Becca Brayden

  Alien Knight Blind Date Disaster

  Copyright © 2020 by BAWB Inc.

  All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electrical, digital or mechanical including but not limited to photocopying, recording, scanning or by any type of data storage and retrieval system without express, written permission from the author.

  Published by BAWB INC.

  Brayden, Becca

  Alien Knight Blind Date Disaster

  Cover design copyright 2020 by ebook indie covers

  Publisher’s Note:

  This book was written for an adult audience. The book may contain explicit sexual content. Sexual activities included in this book are strictly fantasies intended for adults and any activities or risks taken by fictional characters within the story are neither endorsed nor encouraged by the author or publisher.

  Contents

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  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

  Epilogue

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  Also by Becca Brayden

  About the Author

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  Chapter One

  Falden Corshival was the most ancient of the Lumerian Knights. The Strongest. Wisest. He never resented his responsibility to his people, simply doing whatever needed to be done to ensure their survival. Embraced his duty. Made hard decisions. Sacrificed everything.

  Two thousand years had passed since their world was destroyed and they fled to Caldor. Sought refuge on the large allied planet. Stayed hidden as those who destroyed Lumeria continued to hunt for survivors. And in all that time, the survivors, about a hundred Knights who made their way first to Caldor and now to Earth, looked to him for leadership. Expected him to know what to do, make all the right decisions, keep them alive. Never, in all that time, had he questioned his purpose.

  The fact that one small human female could jeopardize everything made his normally cold blood burn in his veins like acid.

  Falden shifted in the hard chair, wishing he wore his Lumerian armor instead of the black trousers and black shirt his second in command, Gareth, had convinced him to wear in order to “look human.” He was used to being unseen, the Lumerian Spectral Cloaking Armor he normally wore making him and his fellow Knights completely invisible when he was on a mission. He was not accustomed to drawing the eye of every man and woman in the room, as he was doing this night in the noisy, crowded bar and grill.

  He tapped his ear communication device, signaling his team that he needed their attention. They’d been together for centuries, could read each other so well there was rarely a true need to voice his thoughts. Two of his fiercest warriors sat in a dark corner booth, ever watchful, surveying the overloud human area for threats.

  “This is not going to work,” he murmured, careful to keep his voice and movement to a minimum. The last thing he needed to do was draw more attention to himself.

  Falden was visible to the general public, human or otherwise, for the first time in centuries. He focused, remaining still and watchful. His body thrummed. He’d been unseen and therefore ignored for so long, he now felt… uncomfortably exposed. Careful to speak Caldorian and not Lumerian, his native tongue, he grumbled, “I find it hard to believe this blog you’ve found could possibly be true. I know of no Lumerian woman who would tolerate a single item from this human list of courting rituals.”

  Vander, one of his best Knights, shrugged. “I agree. But we’re talking about a human. Potentially dangerous. A reporter who could expose all of us, even if it’s unintentional. She knows something about the items that were missing from Sevron’s quarters after the attack. She’s made contact with someone through their internet, attempting to sell Caldorian technology. We only caught one of the traitors responsible for the breach in our defenses last month. Perhaps she is working with another. And you said it yourself—we can’t afford to be wrong.”

  Cassiel, another of his best, nodded and added dryly, “Besides, she’s going to think you’re her newest contact, remember? This is her meeting. Her drop site. We wouldn’t have known about it if she hadn’t tried to get into our system through the back door and go through Sevron’s files. She’s been digging into the black markets and the Intergalactic Council, not to mention Caldor.”

  Through clenched teeth Vander continued, “That means Lumerian secrets are at risk. We’re at risk. She’s no innocent. Whatever setup she has going here, we need to find out what she’s up to and who she’s been working with. Who is she actually supposed to be meeting here? Don’t forget, she’s not even using her real name. She started this. We’re just playing her game.”

  Falden’s frown only deepened. He knew the stakes. Every Lumerian Knight still in hiding was at risk. Every Caldorian. Every human. She could jeopardize planetary defenses or expose a two-thousand-year-old secret. A secret he and his men had worked tirelessly to hide. Sacrificed everything to keep.

  He looked around at the happy couples and small groups of humans with a practiced eye. If there were any nonhumans in the room besides himself or his Lumerian Knights, he would sense their presence. He was ever watchful. After the attack on Earth, he was even more alert. Ready. His senses were better than any human’s. He could see better. Move faster. No one would get past his Knights, but if they did, he would make short work of them.

  Assured that for the moment they were safe, he allowed himself to think about the mysterious female reporter. She may be able to lead them to the traitors who had taken down the planetary shield. The breach in Earth’s defenses had allowed the Vilitos to come in undetected in a surprise attack. He knew there was an expanding black market on Earth; they were selling everything from ancient alien artifacts to advanced research, weaponry and secrets. Maybe someone would know how to find Sevron Bashall, commander of the Caldorian Earth base and a Lumerian royal. Sevron had disappeared during the Vilitos attack. They’d had no leads to his whereabouts until now. Until this…human.

  He would do whatever was necessary to accomplish this mission. Lives were at stake, including the female reporter’s he was about to meet. If she managed to expose even one of his people’s secrets, their enemies wouldn’t hesitate to kidnap and torture her for information.

  And the Vilitos were usually the scouting party for much more violent and formidable species, beings and civilizations that King Dagan of the Caldorians had chosen not to discuss with the humans and their many competing Earth governments. But every Caldorian warrior knew the truth, as did Falden’s Knights.

  There were far worse fates than death.

  Gareth, his second in command, cut into Falden’s thoughts with a deep baritone through the communication device, “I read the reviews. One human said he’d been going about dating all wrong for years. Always lost the girl because he was a nice guy, until he started following the Nice Guy’s Guide to the Hookup. Now he’s out with a new girl every weekend.”

  Falden’s eyes narrowed. “I’v
e never had to resort to these kinds of tactics to gain a female’s attention.” He didn’t have time for female entanglements to begin with. And he most definitely had no interest in courting a new female every week.

  “Well, we’re not talking about our women,” Vander growled angrily, “as most of them are dead. We’re talking about human women and what they like. This human blogger guarantees results and is a popular and admired dating instructor on the planet. He has over a million followers on social media.”

  Falden shook his head. “Still an idiot. And if he’s so admired, they’re all idiots.”

  Cassiel smirked. “Knowing Vander, he probably tested it already. Must be the reason so many women have been crawling all over him since King Dagan made him start pretending to be one of his Caldorian guards.”

  Vander shook his head. “No time for a test run, remember?” He grinned, albeit reluctantly. “Besides, we all know Falden needs help far more than I ever have. He’s always working. Probably doesn’t even remember how to pleasure a woman,” he teased. “Can you even remember a time he de-cloaked long enough to let a woman get a proper look at him?”

  Falden’s three warriors, the very best of the Lumerian Knights, and his most trusted companions for nearly two thousand years, continued to joke at his expense. His lips quirked with amusement, but the look didn’t last long, not with the Nice Guy’s Guide to the Hookup burning a hole in his pocket.

  Gareth abruptly gave a hushed warning from his post outside the bar. “Target in sight. She’s not alone.”

  “Stop fidgeting.” Jessica Carmichael, Isabella’s longtime friend and coworker, nudged her with a shoulder as they walked across the parking lot. “You look scared. Don’t look scared.”

  “I’m trying.” Isabella swallowed nervously and forced her hands into fists at her sides to keep them from shaking. She felt like someone had shoved a small dagger between her ribs, right over her heart, the sharp pain chronic and unrelenting. The pounding in her head made thinking difficult. The truth was that she was terrified.

  “Try harder.” Jessica spoke through a wide smile and tossed her hair back over her shoulder like she didn’t have a care in the world. They both looked fabulous, dressed to kill, which wasn’t meant to be literal, but the night was young.

  Jessica didn’t know the whole truth, and Isabella couldn’t bring herself to tell her best friend all the details. Knowing everything was dangerous.

  Isabella pushed her fake lenses closer to her nose, the heavy, thick black frames refusing to stay in place on her nose as she walked across the parking lot of the most upscale bar and grill in town. She’d picked this particular place because she figured no one would ever recognize her through the disguise. She’d never frequented the popular restaurant, although she’d heard plenty of rumors about the imported beer and slick hustlers. If she were looking for a quick hookup, this was the place to go. Not that she was looking. In fact, she wasn’t looking for anything even resembling a hookup. She’d had enough of good-looking men and their lies. No. She was going into the most popular bar and grill in town wearing a wig and overly large glasses because she couldn’t afford to be recognized by the person, or people, meeting her here.

  This was no ordinary date. This was a prearranged drop site where she was supposed to meet with the most dangerous people she’d ever dealt with. No, she wasn’t sure about that. Could be human. Might not. This was the first time she’d had to worry about being murdered by aliens.

  Her initial contact had been an alien, and not just any alien. She’d been approached by the Caldorian base commander, Sevron Bashall, a few months ago. He’d told her a heartbreaking story and asked her to help him find his twin brother, Torrin.

  Sevron had suspected that the humans running the black market on Earth might know where his brother was being held. As a Caldorian, politics didn’t allow him to pursue any human suspects.

  But she could investigate for him. Get on the inside. She wasn’t police or military or any other government anything. She was nobody, a local reporter known for getting in a bit of trouble now and then. She thrived on revealing secrets that powerful people didn’t want out in the open.

  This was no different. But this secret was terrifying, and the people in power weren’t necessarily human. Or maybe they were. Or maybe they were human beings so vile and evil they sold out their own people for money. Nothing different there. Even the threat of intergalactic war and annihilation by hostile aliens hadn’t changed basic human nature. Bad guys were still bad. Now they just had a much larger playing field.

  She’d thought long and hard about walking away. Sevron had suspected this black market, and something possibly worse than anything she’d ever heard about. Dangerous. That’s what this was. If she wasn’t careful, she could be its next victim. Running a calming hand down her dress, she thought about how proud her father would have been of her, the first in her family to go to college. Subconsciously straightening her shoulders, she gave herself a mental pep talk.

  Maybe she should have said no, but one look into Sevron’s broken gaze and she hadn’t been able to walk away. Not only that, but if half of what he’d told her was true, she would break the biggest story in a decade. Well, the biggest story since the Caldorians had arrived in the first place. She’d be world-famous. Respected. She’d save Sevron’s brother, shut down an evil operation, and be on every talk show in existence. It was an all-around win.

  Assuming she didn’t die in the next ten minutes.

  “Stop it. You’re doing it again.” Jessica’s hand landed on Isabella’s shoulder, and her friend pulled her to a stop in the parking lot, tugging until Isabella faced her. As Jessica spoke, she pretended to fix something with Isabella’s fake red hair.

  “Doing what?” Oh, that question was a lie. She knew. She totally knew.

  “I can feel your freak-out vibe, and I’m not even looking at you.”

  Isabella glanced at the door. Soon there would be no turning back. “You should go home, Jess. Get out of here. This is too dangerous.”

  “And that, my friend, is exactly why I am staying. Besides, the only way these crappy listening devices my little brother loaned us will work is if we stay within sight of each other.”

  At mention of the device, Isabella automatically checked the tiny receiver in her ear. Equal parts scared and relieved to have her best friend with her, she smiled ruefully. “You’re stubborn.”

  Jessica grinned. “Learned from the best.”

  “Fine, but if this goes sideways, get the hell out. Don’t try to wait for me. Go straight to the feds. Not the police. This is bigger than the police.”

  “I know. I know. We’ve been over this a dozen times. But you didn’t give me much to tell them,” Jessica protested for what felt like the hundredth time.

  “I gave you enough. Trust me.” And she had. If what she’d heard the last few days was true, the few sentences she’d forced Jessica to memorize would be more than enough if she had to go to the proverbial Men in Black.

  Hopefully, it wouldn’t come to that. This meeting was her final drop. Her efforts to convince the black market dealers that she was a legitimate source of tech, and not a federal or Caldorian agent, were about to pay off. She was so close she could taste it.

  And once they trusted her, she would meet the man behind the mask. Before she could track down Sevron, however, or his brother, or find out what the hell was really going on, she needed to get on the inside. Earn their trust.

  To that end, Sevron had been supplying her with black market items for weeks. She took what he gave her and, in turn, sold the items to third parties. This had been the plan: acquire an inventory of alien tech and smaller weapons, set herself up as a legitimate black market dealer, get the real bad guys to trust her, then start tapping them for information about Sevron’s brother. He had assured her all the items she would be selling were nonlethal. Mostly just hard-to-find ancient artifacts from dead planets. Healing ointments worth a fortune. Gadgets
and gizmos that would amaze humans without giving them anything truly dangerous. The plan had been working until Sevron disappeared, too.

  She took a few deep, cleansing breaths and patted her fake red hair back into place. She couldn’t afford to panic. Not now. She’d promised tonight’s buyer something big. The problem was that she had no way to deliver the goods without Sevron. Tonight’s deal could go very, very badly. Very fast.

  She was in too deep to back out now. She needed answers. She knew who Sevron was. He was in charge of the whole Earth base. The commander. Earth had been attacked less than a month ago, and none of the Caldorians were talking about the incident other than to express their regrets and make promises about it never happening again. Their commander was missing, but no one could offer explanations.

  In fact, they hadn’t even acknowledged his disappearance. Somehow, someone who looked just like him had been making appearances. Probably some sort of alien tech that could disguise faces and make him look just like Sevron. But she knew it wasn’t really him. She knew. Every attempt to contact him via their normal channels had failed. Whoever was impersonating Sevron had no idea who she was.

  She’d only met a few Caldorians, but they were scary motherfuckers, pardon her French. Hotter than hell, but scary. Big. Huge. Alpha males. Very tight-lipped. Every time she tried to get information, she was met with silence and stonewalling.