Choosing the Alien Barbarian: Warriors of Warden, #5

By Ella Mansfield

Rescued from a lifelong sentence of marriage with a stranger, Lacey agrees to marry alien within one month of reaching the planet Mcy. The problem is, she feels the fated mate connection with Kvn, the man piloting the ship she’s on, and he has sworn to never marry an Earth woman. As a prince, he’s used to doing what he wants to do, so Lacey feels ignored.

Kvn feels torn apart by the woman he’s helping. On one hand, his feelings for her are stronger than anything he’s ever felt for another woman. On the other hand, he refuses to marry an Earth woman, because he’s seen the way they control his brothers, as the women try to end the feud with the Htflds. Will she go on to marry a stranger? Or will Kvn realize he can’t let the one woman created just for him go?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ella Mansfield
• Release date: Sep 13, 2017
• ISBN: 9781386856504

Book preview

Chapter One

Lacey wandered around the alien spaceship that had been her home for the past few days, feeling restless.  Her best friend, Roxie, was there on the ship as well, but she was honeymooning with her new husband, Bnjmn, and Lacey felt like she was in the way.  Roxie devoted two hours every day to training Lacey in self-defense, and Lacey couldn’t ask for more.  Of course, that left her with a lot of time on her hands and nothing to do with herself.

She wandered onto the bridge of the ship and watched silently from the back as Kvn, Bnjmn’s brother, expertly piloted the ship.  Tell me about your planet, she said softly, wanting to know everything she could about her future home.

To escape from Earth, Lacey had promised to marry a man on the planet, Mcy, but she had to choose him, and marry him, within a month of landing on the new planet.  How was she supposed to do that?  Roxanne had said to make sure she chose someone whose mind touched hers, but what did that even mean?

Kvn turned from his panel, glaring at Lacey.  She had no idea why the man hated her so much, but she was certain he did.  She could almost hear him shouting at her in his mind.

Kvn looked at the beautiful woman in front of him, wishing he knew what to say to her.  She made him feel too much, and he had no desire to marry yet, so unless she would agree to be his mistress, he had no use for her.  What do you want to know? he asked irritably.

She shrugged.  I don’t know anything about it.  What’s the terrain like?  I know there are a lot more men than women, but Roxanne said something about fated mates, and I don’t even know what that means.

Well, the planet is mostly oceans. I’m not sure if you heard the story of how our family came to be there, but it’s one my father loves to tell. We were exiled from our home planet, Warden, when our feud with the Htfld family became too violent. Generations ago both families were cursed by a witch back on our home planet. Neither family has had a daughter born to them since.

No wonder you need females. What was the feud about?

Kvn frowned. Family folklore has it that a Htfld man fell in love with a young Mcy girl. The two families were the royal families of two opposing nations, who shared a common border. They wanted to run away and marry, but the Mcy girl was afraid to tell her parents that she was in love with a Htfld. So they met clandestinely in the middle of the night. When the girl could no longer hide her pregnancy from her parents, she admitted she was carrying, but she wouldn’t tell who the father was. Instead she ran off with the Htfld man. Five months later, the Htfld man brought back her broken body. She died in childbirth. The baby lived, but the Htflds refused to give him to the Mcy’s to raise. He didn’t want his child to be raised in a household where he was afraid to admit that he loved someone. The families have been feuding ever since. About a generation ago, when I was a young boy, the feuding reached its peak. Both families were exiled from our home planet of Warden.

So now both families have to live together on one planet? With no mediators?  That sounded crazy.

Kvn laughed at the mere idea. No, not at all. We were both exiled but to separate planets. In the solar system we’re in, their planet is directly across the sun from ours but on the same orbit. I’ve heard their planet is a virtual paradise compared to ours. I’m not sure though, because I’ve never been.

Do people from the two planets ever run into one another in other places?

Kvn nodded. Our brother, Drrrl, had his bride stolen from him by one of the Htfld men at the space station close to Earth. He got her back right away, but it only made the tensions worse between the two planets.

Drrrl’s bride? Is that Lela?

I forget you know Lela. Yes, it is her. She’s now carrying the crown prince of our planet.

Does that mean your parents are the king and queen? Lacey felt more than a little bit intimidated.

Yes, they are. The entire Mcy family is there though, plus many of the subjects from our kingdom back on Warden. There are thousands on the planet, hundreds of them are young men waiting to marry. Kvn looked her up and down, his eyes taking in her curvy figure which couldn’t be completely concealed by her ugly, loose-fitting clothes. I’m sure you won’t have trouble finding a man.

Lacey shuddered. I wanted to leave Earth to avoid marrying a man I didn’t know. Now I feel like I’m going to be trapped in the same situation. She hated the idea of marrying a stranger, and she always had.  Why were there never any real options for women?  Something needed to be done on a universal scale and soon.  Oppression of women was so nineteenth century.

At least on Mcy you’ll have the option of choosing your own mate. On Earth, as I understand it, a computer would’ve chosen your mate. I think that’s barbaric.

Maybe it is. It’s the only way I’ve ever known. My future husband was chosen just before Roxie was taken. She was thankful to Roxie for coming back for her, but she was still fearful of what her future would hold.

Kvn raised an eyebrow. And you haven’t met him yet?

No. I haven’t had the pleasure. And now I never will. I’m thankful that Roxie came back for me.

Kvn shook his head. "It was against my best judgment. I didn’t want to come back. I don’t think it’s safe for us