Beauty And The Alien Beast Read online

  Beauty And The Alien Beast

  A Sci-Fi Alien Fairy Tale Romance

  Zara Zenia

  Illustrated by

  Natasha Snow

  Edited by

  Elizabeth A Lance

  Copyright © 2019 by Zara Zenia

  All rights reserved.

  Cover design by Natasha Snow Designs

  Edited by Elizabeth A Lance

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  This book is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locations is purely coincidental. The characters are all productions of the authors’ imagination.

  Contents

  VIP Reader Club

  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

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 44

  Chapter 45

  Chapter 46

  Epilogue

  Preview of Alien Prince Charming

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  About Zara Zenia

  Also by Zara Zenia

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  Chapter 1

  Andromeda “Andi”

  “Get back! It’s a bomb!” the squad leader shouted.

  “Father!” I grabbed his hand, pulling him from the front door of our small home.

  “Take cover, Andi!”

  His words were loud in my ear as we ran together and crouched behind a dark grey bomb squad cruiser.

  “We need a drone defuse now!”

  The words echoed over our heads as the bomb squad tore into our neighborhood. I watched it all in slow motion. This could not be happening. But in the back of my mind, I knew that he had to be the one to plan this. He was just the kind of man to do such a thing. If he were in front of me, I would spit in his face.

  “It’s the HFT. It has to be.” My father pulled me close. Worry occupied his dark eyes and his hands were shaking.

  “Maybe not, Father.” I squeezed his hand and knew that I was lying as soon as the words came out of my mouth. The HFT stood for Humanity First Terrorists and they had been after my father and his work for years. However, they hadn’t ever been this successful before. Was it just coincidence that Jake had recently joined HFT and now this?

  “I am sorry, Andi. I have failed you. They won’t get to you. This I can promise. I’m going to fix this. I will take you someplace secure and safe and you will live.”

  Watching my father’s eyes water with tears of anguish wasn’t what I was expecting to see at a time like this. He was sometimes a fool, but he was strong and didn’t let emotion get the better of him. Something told me that this was his breaking point.

  “Dr. James LaBelle?” A swat team member in dark blue crouched down next to us in the midst of the chaos unfolding all around us.

  “Yes, that’s me and this is my daughter.”

  “I’m afraid you two are going to have to come with me. We have an armored truck waiting to transport you out of here and to safety. You are endangering the entire neighborhood by staying here since you are the target.”

  “Yes. Right. Will you take us somewhere secure?” my father asked wiping the tears from his face.

  “Yes, sir. The most secure place in New-New Orleans.”

  “Good. Andi…” My father grabbed my arm and gave me a look of encouragement.

  I nodded my head and together, we ran alongside the swat team member. I didn’t know if we would be shot at any moment. If the HFT went through enough trouble to plant a bomb, then why not a sniper?

  I held my breath waiting for the blow to come at any moment until we climbed into a clunky armored truck. The sound of the metal bulletproof doors closing felt like safety, but also like the sound of a prison cell closing.

  Panic took hold of me as I sat on the metal bench across from my father. I realized that I would never go home again. Would they allow us to go back and gather some things? I couldn’t blame my father for this. The blame was as much mine as it was his.

  Yes, he had been a target of the HFT because of his work as a xenoanthropologist, studying and working closely with the Trilyn alien race. But it was also my line of work too, and I was the one who brought a future HFT member into our home, and into my bed.

  Sergeant Jake Marsh was a military man, the kind of man that was my particular weakness. When I first met him, he was the muscular strong type and it seemed like he could protect me in the world and dominate me in bed. I fell hard for that. Then he turned out to be more than just military strong. He was a monster.

  The truck jerked forward and we were on our way. Twenty minutes later, the vehicle stopped and the door opened. The bright sunlight hurt my eyes as I jumped down then helped my aging and chubby father out of the truck.

  “The guard,” he said as we both looked up at the massive iron gates surrounding us. The guard was the police force in the city and we were now at their headquarters. In front of us loomed a black archway as high as any monument in the city.

  “This way,” the swat officer stated.

  We followed him through the arch heading toward processing, but as we did so, we weren’t greeted with kindness by those who passed us.

  “Trilyn lover,” one of the guard muttered as we passed, giving us a dark look.

  “Traitors. Humanity first…” another whispered, staring daggers at us.

  I felt my back burning as we passed.

  “It is not safe here. HFT has infiltrated all establishments, even the guard,” my father whispered in response to these mutterings being thrown our way.

  “This is Dr. James LaBelle and his daughter in for processing,” the swat officer said to a woman in a black suit.

  She had blonde hair slicked back into a bun. She nodded as the officer left us to the officials. “Dr. LaBelle. Here we are again. Your run-ins with the HFT are costing the guard quite a bit of money and—”

  “I wish to speak with Prince Manzar in the name of seeking asylum,” my father blurted out.

  “Father!”

  “It is the only way you will be safe, Andi.”

  “But… where is this coming from? Shouldn’t we discuss this first?”

  “No,” he stated bluntly. Then he continued speaking with the woman, “Today, if possible. Can you arrange it?”

  “I
can arrange to put in the request, but the Prince is often busy. You may stay here in the lodgings until his response.”

  “Thank you.”

  “No, thank you. If the Prince accepts, then you will be his problem and not ours any longer,” the woman said with a smug smile and walked away with a snap of her fingers, which summoned another young woman.

  “This way to lodging,” the new woman said.

  My face was flushed red as I looked at my father with anger. I couldn’t believe he would ask for such a thing without discussing it with me. This is my life too!

  “Right in here. Food will be brought to you and you will find all that you need on the shelves. These are the locks. I suggest you use them,” the young woman said looking at my father.

  Of course, she knew who he was, the entire city knew about the disgraced xenoanthropologist. She closed the door leaving us in a modest room with two beds, a table, chairs, and a small kitchen area. The small door in the back I could only assume led to the bathroom facility, but I had no interest in a house tour.

  “Father! Why did you ask for such a thing? Prince Manzar? I am all for Trilyn rights as well, but this Prince isn’t known for his kindness. He is said to be a brute – an animal!”

  “It is the only way I can think to protect you, Andi. Do you not think that I regret every day that my choice in work has put my own daughter in danger? If I could take it all back, I would. I would be a regular paper pusher and keep my head down just so that you could be safe, not a target.”

  It was the first time I’d heard my father admit such a thing and it was then when I realized — the bomb in our house had shaken him to the core.

  “I don’t blame you, Father. It is what it is. The world is crazy, but I still want to make my own choices. Seeking asylum with the Trilyn Prince means we might have to stay in his palace forever. I don’t want that.”

  “I’m sorry. I did not think of it in that way. I was only thinking about the safest place from the HFT, and this place is not it. There in the palace is the safest place in the city from them. Now… I need to rest my nerves for a bit,” he said moving toward the kitchen and opening cabinets. “Perhaps there is a nip of whiskey in one of these…”

  A heavy sigh escaped me. There was no use. My father had put in a request to seek an audience with the Prince and now, there was no taking it back.

  I sat on the bed and laid back for a quick rest. Exhaustion suddenly came over me as the events of the last hour took hold of me. The bomb in our home had been a chilling discovery, but not so much of a surprise. My father’s work as an activist against the xenophobic government of Louisiana had always garnered attention.

  It had been years since the alien race known as the Trilyn had come to Earth. They wanted nothing more than to live in harmony with humans. Well, that… and human females. They themselves had undergone a plague that had ravaged their population and now they wanted to repopulate their planet with a hybrid of Trilyn and human.

  The first response to this was shock and soon Earth was divided on whether to allow the Trilyns to stay. But when the aliens offered advanced technology never seen by humans, they were permitted to stay in exchange for access to the technology.

  “Do you think he did it?”

  My father’s voice caused my eyes to snapped open. I sat up on the bed. “Who? Jake?”

  “Yes, Jake. Is it just a coincidence?” He stared at me while sitting at the table, drinking water.

  “No, I don’t think it is, Father. He knew our home well and our schedules. Jake is the most likely person who would find it easiest to sneak into our home and do such a thing. Plus, a bomb like that requires military expertise.” I stood up and paced the room with my gears turning.

  “Which Jake has...” Father commented.

  “Yes, he does. I’m sorry, Father. I brought him into our home and into our lives.”

  “It’s alright. Love is blind. You didn’t know.” He gave me a look of understanding, but I didn’t think I deserved it.

  “That wasn’t love. That was something else,” I said recalling just how abusive Jake had turned after a month of dating him. It had taken a month for him to show me his true colors.

  As I paced the room, I wondered if Jake had sought me out. He couldn't have suddenly just turned into a Trilyn hater out of nowhere. When he met me, he knew that I was a photojournalist with a successful website covering all things Trilyn culture – like father like daughter.

  Jake knew I spoke fluent Trilyn and of course, who my father was. Was he playing me from day one? Was this his plan all along? I leaned my head back in disbelief. How could I have been so stupid? It wasn’t because love was blind. It had been more like lust in those first few weeks.

  “You will see, daughter. The Prince knows my work and he will give us asylum at the palace.” He sat down on the bed ready to lie down. “Get some rest. We don’t know when they will summon us and it is better to be rested and have our wits about us.”

  “Yes, Father.” I gave him a small smile.

  I grabbed a blanket and covered him. Sometimes, I felt like the parent. He swiftly dozed off, but I couldn’t. Though I felt tired, I was trying to reacquaint myself with all the facts that I knew about Prince Manzar. A young Prince, the same age as me, twenty-four. He was the ruler of the Lirian continent, a training ground and manufacturing center for military equipment.

  I’d never seen him in person but knew what he looked like from photographs. He was the most Trilyn looking of all the princes, fierce, like a beast without the more human-like features of his brothers. This made humans fear him even more, and now I would be coming face to face with this beast.

  The opportunity came swiftly. The very next day we were taken by armored truck once more from the guard headquarters to the palace of Prince Manzar.

  Chapter 2

  Manzar

  “I think it is time that I returned home, brother,” I said to my brother, Prince Gardax who stared at me from the communication screen.

  “But you have not yet found a human female match. You cannot leave Earth,” Gardax replied.

  This was his usual lecture, and it was no surprise to me. “I am not asking for your permission, brother, I am merely informing you,” I replied, feeling anger rising inside of me.

  “And yet, you should be seeking my permission because I’m the eldest brother out of all of us,” he said getting heated as well.

  My fists pulled into a ball as they rested on the arms of the chair I sat on inside the communications room of my own palace ship, parked in New New Orleans.

  I had grown tired of this room. I had grown long past grown tired of Earth and this place they called Louisiana, very wet and soggy Earth everywhere. But most importantly, I had grown tired of being alone. I felt that this project to come to Earth and find human females who were genetically compatible with our own Trilyn race in order to procreate was a waste of time.

  “We could be out there in the universe, seeking out other females, not these humans. There are many races that we could try. These humans are very ungrateful for the trade. We promised them a trade of our advanced and superior technology in order to coexist with them, yet they seem to be going back on that promise on a daily basis, Gardax. They have contempt for us! More than half of them want us to leave. You have seen the violence against our kind,” I reminded him. I had been telling him this for a very long time, almost since our first arrival on Earth. The humans didn’t want us here.

  His yellow eyes narrowed at me, making his sharp features look even sharper. He was more human-looking than I was. I was the least human-looking of my six brothers, another reason the locals in the government of Louisiana were not very welcoming to me.

  “I don’t want to hear any more of this, Manzar. You are not trying. How many females have you scanned?” Gardax asked.

  “I have tried for three and a half years!” I shouted at the screen and wished that my brother were in front of me in person, so I could grab him by
the shoulders and show him just how angry I was. “I have grown tired of attending these ridiculous balls, mingling with large crowds of humans, and looking for a mate. It has done nothing for me.”

  “The scanners work. You must trust in them. That is the reason why I had them invented,” he shouted back at me. “You are starting to sound like our brother Darbnix.”

  “Well, maybe Darbnix is right.” I narrowed my orange eyes at him.

  “There are half a billion human females on Earth, one of them must be genetically compatible with you and be able to give you offspring.”

  “One month,” I offered bluntly.

  “What?” Gardax stared at me with narrowed eyes.

  “I will give it one more month. And then I’m returning to our home. The people of Lirian need me. My training grounds and manufacturing centers need me.”

  “One month is not ample time, brother,” Gardax argued.

  “I don’t care what the human female looks or acts like, as long as she is genetically compatible. Then that will be the end of it,” I said and then turned off the screen cutting him off as he attempted to protest further.