Taken for the Alien Prince

Personal Note

I just want to thank you so much for your interest in this short story. I wrote this as an exclusive for my current fans and I aim to turn you into one of my raving fans! This story is a standalone however I get emails daily on people wanting to read more. So, I plan to turn this into an exclusive trilogy for fans. Stay tuned.

I have also included the first book of my bestselling Uoria Mates Series for your enjoyment. Uoria Mates has been read by thousands of raving fans who keep asking for more and more books. Currently, the Uoria Mates has 30+ books with more on the way.

Buckle up and let’s go on this sci-fi romance adventure!

We lose ourselves in books, we find ourselves there, too.

Chapter One

There was nothing but the wind in her lungs and the pounding of her feet against the ground. Layla knew nothing else. She could only remember running.

She was barefoot and the ground beneath her feet was cold and damp, sending a chill through her body as she continued to force herself forward. Sticks and rocks occasionally dug into the soft flesh of the soles of her feet and low brush clawed at her face, tangling in her hair as if trying to stop her, but she wouldn’t slow down. Everything around her was hazy. The color seemed to have washed out of the world and left behind only shades of brown and rust and grey, creating shadows that appeared to sink down into oblivion. Layla felt like she was running through water, moving slowly no matter how hard she fought to go faster, and hearing nothing in ears that felt muted and filled with aching pressure.

Chilling air whipped at her face and she felt the first few stinging raindrops of a storm cut at her skin. She couldn’t let it stop her, and she knew that even the most intense rain couldn’t distract her because she didn’t know the path that she was following. She didn't know where she was going or how she had gotten there, and as she ran, the trees seemed to blur and blend into one another, making it impossible for her to orient herself. As she ran through the rain she struggled to remember how she had gotten to this place or why she was running. No matter how hard she thought, though, she couldn’t seem to pull those memories forward. It was as if everything that had been before her feet began to run had disappeared and all her mind knew was the time that she had spent fleeing through the damp and muted world. It could have been a matter of minutes or it could have been hours. There was nothing to tell her how long she had been running, or how far she had gone.

Layla knew they were coming after her, though she didn’t know what they were or why they were chasing her. She could sense their heavy footsteps even in the thick, muting air and feel their presence getting closer. They seemed to be everywhere even though she couldn't see them as she ran. The oppressive feeling of them was getting more intense, but she had to keep running. She didn't know where she was running, but her feet wouldn't stop. Her mind and her fear wouldn't let them.

She pushed herself harder and felt the impending energy of the footsteps chasing her lessen. For a moment, she thought she might be getting away, putting enough distance between herself and whatever was chasing her to prevent them from catching her. She might have a chance to get out of the woods and find her way back home – only, she couldn't remember what home was or where she may be able to find it. All she could do was run.

A cold, sharp breath invaded her lungs as she turned around a massive tree. The hard, choking pressure of a hand on her neck cut off the breath and she felt the ground beneath her feet disappear as the hand lifted her up. She could still see nothing around her, even whatever creature was now holding her. There was a moment of consuming terror and then the world around her turned to streaks of black and grey. Then there was nothing.

****

Jiri's feet pounded into the ground, sinking into the damp earth and the carpet of undergrowth that seemed to reach up and grab at him as he moved across it, not wanting him to go forward, somehow knowing what he was thinking and the intentions that he had. He looked down, checking to make sure that he was actually moving. Even though he could feel each step tightening the muscles throughout his legs and the branches of the trees on either side of him brushing at his skin and hair as he past, he felt like he wasn't getting any further away.

The lush green plants that grew across the forest floor slipped beneath him like a ribbon, disappearing behind him like he was pushing the world away with his feet as he ran, putting it behind him as he kept his body moving as fast as he could. It proved to him that he was, in fact, moving forward, but he still felt like he was trapped in place, held where he stood so he was forced to experience what he didn’t want to, what he wished he could change.

He could still hear his brothers in the distance. Their laughter and the thudding of their footsteps reverberated through him and ricocheted off the trees around him until it seemed like they were pressing in on him from all sides, crushing down on him painfully. Through it he could suddenly hear screaming.

For a few seconds Jiri couldn't tell if the screams were actually happening or if the horrific sounds that were cutting through his heart were just the brutal constructions of his mind, and memories of years before came back in this moment to torment him. He tried to run harder, needing to get to them, needing to stop them. Each time he blinked, even during the brief moments that his eyes were closed, he could see what he knew was happening.

He wished none of it was happening. He wished that he had been able to stop it, that his pleas hadn’t fallen on uncaring ears. But there was nothing that could be done.  Even as the horror flowed through him, he could feel bitter anger seething just beneath the surface. Jiri forced himself to focus on that feeling. He preferred the darker, harder emotion of fury to the feeling of unbalance and helplessness that he had been feeling since his brothers left the palace that afternoon. He couldn't believe what his family was doing to him. Though he had always known that they were vicious, cruel, and vindictive, he had hoped that they would be different for him. He hoped that they would have listened to him and not gone completely against everything that he felt, thought, and believed.

The day had started so simply, so easily. There was truly nothing extraordinary when he woke in his chambers and came down to have breakfast with his brothers and his parents. Soon, though, they began to talk about his coming of age. Just the thought was enough to make Jiri’s stomach turn. As soon as his oldest brother mentioned it, he knew that they weren’t going to respect his wishes. He had no choice. They were going to force him to go through with the rituals that the traditions of his planet and his station dictated for him.

They had tried to tell Jiri that what he wanted wasn’t realistic, that he needed to trust in the ways of his people and know that once he had taken his place and experienced what it was like to live as the other men in his family did, he would understand not just the necessity, but the luxury of it. Jiri had never been convinced. He didn't believe anything that his brothers said and he knew that they would never sway him. He hated what they did, especially this ritual. He didn't understand why they had to maintain the horrifying archaic practices of their ancestors when there was no benefit, and there were so many other ways that they could live their lives.

It was those thoughts, that resistance, though, that had brought him here, running through the woods, knowing that he couldn’t stop what was happening, but hoping that he could make it easier.

After breakfast, they had started their day and his brother had asked him to take a walk with him. It was a strange request, one that he wouldn’t have thought twice about when they were younger, but that struck him as bizarre now after years of his relationships with his brothers degrading to the point of near-coldness. Despite his hesitation, he had gone along.

He and Prez had walked through the spring morning bantering back and forth like they had when they were younger and the pressures of adulthood hadn’t