CAUGHT FEELINGS (SCI-FI)Â BY BETH HALE
☆ Sadira ☆
I was born to be a hunter, trained to be a killer. That’s how I spend my time and earn money. It’s also a way I can track and kill Hadarra–the Fratiounen responsible for my mate’s death three years ago.
I’ve managed to track him across galaxies, through various ports. But now, on a planet called Earth, everything changes. The concrete jungles here are vastly different from anything I’ve ever seen. The humans are a destructive lot, killing each other without discretion, and giving the perfect front for Hadarra and his illicit activities.
As I hunt Hadarra, I stumble across Eli Harper. He says he’s the authority on Earth, a member of New York’s police force. And he’s suspicious of me, tells me not to do anything that breaks the laws of this planet. He’ll be watching me.
I try to shake him, but I can’t. He’s smart and swift, edgy and dangerous–just the kind of man I can use in a fight against Hadarra. But I can tell he doesn’t believe me when I tell him I am a warrior from another planet. He finds it amusing . . . until I kill one of Hadarra’s minions in order to save Eli’s life.
Now he’s a believer, and asks lots of questions. Questions I don’t have time to answer. And because attacks are coming quicker and quicker, I know that Hadarra has people working for him here. I have to find a safe place to hide and plan an attack of my own. Eli offers his cabin in the woods of upstate New York, and I agree.
Once there, I find I like the quietness of the area. I can think. I can plan. I can settle my emotions–and it’s my emotions that are the issue.
Eli makes me feel things I haven’t felt since my mate died. Things I didn’t know I could feel again. And that scares me. He’s attractive, smart, and good in a fight–but he’s a human. No matter that he does dark, pleasurable things that make me moan with delight, that make me scream his name. He lets me know he wants me as a man wants a woman, and I know release is good for the body, but I don’t know if I want the feelings he stirs in my heart.
When this is over, I have to leave. I have to continue my mission, do what I was trained to do. There’s nothing else for me now.
Is there?
☆ Eli ☆
I’ve been walking a fine line between burnout and turning a bad corner. Police work can be exhausting. And when I catch a gorgeous woman fighting off three street rats, part of me is impressed–and part of me is wary. She introduces herself as Sadira of Kadar, a warrior hunting Hadarra, a dangerous alien.
She’s whacked. Sexy as fuck, but whacked. So I warn her not to do anything illegal. But there’s something about her, a kind of wide-eyed wonder, that makes me shadow her. And then she kills something–I can’t call it a man, and she calls it Hadarra’s minion–in front of me, effectively saving my life, I find myself more inclined to believe her wild stories.
When more and more attacks happen, I offer to take her to my secluded cabin upstate. If we can get out of the city long enough to make a game plan, we may have a shot at winning this war. But once we’re there, I can’t stop the desire racing through my veins.
I want Sadira. Desperately. I want to do all kinds of things to her, the kinds of things that aren’t talked about in polite society. She’s welcome to my advances, and we spend some very satisfying time getting to know one another’s kinks. But she’s troubled by something, something other than Hadarra, and won’t let me in.
That bothers me, because I’ve come to love her more than I ever thought possible. She understands and accepts the dark side of me. She matches me on every level. But she won’t talk of staying, of loving me back.
When this is over, will I have to let her go and return to my lonely existence? Will she accept an offer of me traveling with her? Is there any chance for us . . .or have I caught feelings for someone who will leave me alone?
