Alien's Bride: Genetically Altered Humans, #14

By Rena Marks

Mail Order Brides. Such an archaic custom.

 

But when an ad is circulated through Earth-Ground and the nine floating cities, it catches the eye of Cassandra Richter. Xenia has some of the most world-renowned doctors in reproductive endocrinology, including the famous Dr. Irina Mescar. This may be her one chance at having a baby.

 

Milo knows the delicate human female is his the first time he lays eyes on her. However, Cassandra Richter doesn't feel the same. Instead she worships his Xeno Sapien brother, Landon. There's nothing he can do but love her from afar—and hate Landon for stealing his one shot at happiness.

 

Cassie is drugged to the hilt with Love Potion #9, and the Xeno Sapien who catches her eye is magnificent. Sculpted and muscular, a sexy blue dream. He's the one for her. Landon Xeno Sapien. Unfortunately, he's not the one who triggers her compatibility. No, her friend and sponsor, Milo, does.

 

But Landon nurtures the same feelings for her as she does for him. Can she forego her dream of having a child to have him instead?   

 

* The story behind the series: When futuristic Earth finds alien DNA and creates a new species of hybrids in hidden labs, Dr. Robyn Saraven helps the "creatures" escape. She uses her connections to establish their own city on Earth-Ground where they can learn, grow, and avoid the corruption and greed that created them. *

 

Each book can be read as a standalone, but will be richer if read in order.

Other books in the Genetically Altered Humans Series:

Book 1—Xeno Sapiens

Book 2—Earth-Ground

Book 3—Siren

Book 4—Beast's Beauty

Book 5—Almost Human

Book 6—Forbidden Touches

Book 7—Coveting Ava

Book 8—For Everly

Book 9—Assassin's Mate

Book 10—Sextet

Book 11—Tempting Tempest

Book 12—Falling For Trance

Book 13—Damaged Goods

Book 14—Alien's Bride

Book 15—Dual Lives

Book 16—Reson's Lesson

Book 17—A Mate For Max

Book 18—Dragon's Mate

Book 19—Fated

• Language: English
• Publisher: Rena Marks
• Release date: Feb 20, 2020
• ISBN: 9781393206842

Rena Marks

Welcome to my Worlds! Rena Marks is a bestselling author with over eighty-five novels under her belt. She combines her love of science fiction with paranormal romance because no matter what happens in real life, a happy-ever-after never disappoints. Come get lost in my worlds for a few hours!

Book preview

ALIEN’S

BRIDE

A XENO SAPIENS NOVEL

The Genetically Altered Humans

Book 14

Rena Marks

ALIEN’S BRIDE

A Xeno Sapiens Novel

Rena Marks

What happens when you can’t choose?  

Mail Order Brides. Such an archaic custom. But when an ad is circulated through Earth-Ground and the nine floating cities, it catches the eye of Cassandra Richter. Xenia has some of the most world-renowned doctors in reproductive endocrinology, including the famous Dr. Irina Mescar. This may be her one chance at having a baby.

Milo knows the delicate human female is his from the first time he lays eyes on her. However, Cassandra Richter doesn’t feel the same. Instead, she worships his Xeno Sapien brother, Landon. There’s nothing he can do but love her from afar—and hate Landon for stealing his one shot at happiness.

While Cassie is drugged to the hilt with the pheromone-reading serum she’s dubbed Love Potion #9, the Xeno Sapien who catches her eye is magnificent. Sculpted and muscular, a sexy blue dream. He’s the one for her. Landon Xeno Sapien. Unfortunately, he’s not the one who triggers her compatibility. No, her friend and sponsor, Milo, does.

But Landon nurtures the same feelings for her as she does for him. Can she forego having a child to have him instead?  

Table of Contents

Prologue

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Epilogue

Bonus Epilogue

Dual Lives

Owned By The Orc

Saved By The Orc

Bought By The Orc

Matched To The Monster

Maddie Mine

My Alien Baby

Space Babies

Xeno Sapiens

Blue Barbarian Series

Miack

Khane

How My Jingleballs Saved Christmas

Zearn

Merry Monsters

Prologue

"HOW IS IT THAT ALL the Xeno Sapiens in this room know of this person named Landon and all the humans in this same room don’t have a clue as to who you’re all referring to?" Dr. Robyn Saraven’s eyes were narrowed as she focused on the faces around the table and her fists clenched at her sides.

The meeting consisted of the four core Xeno Sapiens known as Esson Four; her mate, Steele, Amanda’s mate, Renegade, their scientist Pax, and her best friend, Beast. There was also Amanda’s brother Jason, who was head of their security team, and his batch of men.

Amanda took her place next to her, Irina next to her.

Across the table, the other Xeno Sapiens present were Lily, Jason’s mate, Tempest, Shawn’s mate, and Blaze, Irina’s mate. Winnie wasn’t present, though she was mated to Sam, one of the humans. She was probably taking care of their daughter.

Robyn slowly stretched her fingers as she called out for her house computer, the artificial intelligence who’d developed his own personality. Leo? DNA count, please.

There are no extra DNA counts in the city of Xenia, Robyn.

She strummed her fingers on the quartz tabletop as if to prove her point. Someone explain to me why I can’t recall this person and yet he’s not new?

Let’s go over it again, Dr. Amanda Becker, her second-in-command, said. Amanda had been the one with her in the underground laboratories when they’d discovered the existence of the Xeno Sapiens and together, they’d developed a plan for escape. There’s something we’re missing. One, when Landon was first mentioned here, I assumed he was someone Robyn knew. A Xeno Sapien under her care, because we had divided up the work among us in the labs. Two, Robyn thought the same of me. She assumed Landon was someone I had revived from the solar stasis pods on the island while she was unconscious after the labs were blown up. Three, when we discovered neither of us knew him, Leo suggested he was a species who had a metamorphosis—like when a butterfly changes from a caterpillar after its cocoon. Four, all the Xeno Sapiens know Landon. He is described as bluish purple, with wings. He has six toes. He is well-mannered and polite. He sounds an awful lot like Milo, who happens to be Cassandra Richter’s sponsor, the first person in our Bride Program. Yet all of you,—she gestured to the Xeno Sapiens around the table— assure us he’s not Milo.

He is definitely not Milo, Renegade, Amanda’s mate, said, his eyes narrowed. They’re two totally different people. I don’t know why you can’t remember him.

Do we think Milo had anything to do with the creation of this new being? And we’re calling him new only because Amanda and I haven’t met him, Robyn said.

If Milo had anything to do with him, he certainly wouldn’t have had a reason to create him. Not with Cassie falling for Landon instead of him, Renegade answered.

That brings up point five, Amanda said. Cassie has fallen in love with Landon. Landon has fallen in love with Cassie. But there’s no compatibility for breeding if Landon is unable to reproduce. So why would the serum we created specifically for this program point these two together?

Six, Robyn said. Milo is compatible with Cassie. But she loves Landon, who has similar traits to Milo. Why? None of this makes sense.

This is a puzzle, Steele said. I admit the entire scenario sounds fishy. But there’s no way for a mass hallucination to hit all Xeno Sapiens at once. I assure you all, Landon is real. He and Milo are best friends—or at least they were until they started competing for Cassie.

Shawn. Robyn turned to a human on security, one mated to a Xeno Sapien also. What do you recall of meeting Landon?

He shrugged. Tempest seemed to know him. I assumed I just hadn’t paid much attention, I guess. I knew I’d seen Milo around, had worked with him a couple times and figured I must have mixed him up with Landon at some point and never knew there were two.

Several of the humans nodded their agreement.

Alarms began blasting throughout the hallways.

Leo! Robyn barked. What’s going on?

His robotic tone had no inflection—a completely odd occurrence since he’d developed a personality. There has been a death in the gladiator pits.

There was an eerie silence has they all stared at each other, wide-eyed, for a split second. At once, everyone gathered around the table bounded up and rushed outside, footsteps pounding on the ground to the caged area designated for training purposes.

The scene was gruesome. Milo Xeno Sapien, drenched in blood, sat on the ground shaking, obviously in a state of shock. Cassie was screaming, tears running down her cheeks, hunched over the dead body of Landon Xeno Sapien.  

Their human guard, Jason, pulled Cassie from Landon while Drs. Irina and Amanda both worked on him, but Robyn knew he couldn’t be revived. Leo had already called it a death. Briefly, she recalled his oddly unemotional tone.

Robyn focused her attention on her friend Amanda, looking for a clue. Some hope. Anything. But looking up from Landon’s body long enough to catch her eye, Amanda quietly shook her head.

Cassie gave a bloodcurdling scream of denial and yanked away from Jason. Before anyone knew what was happening, she was in front of Milo and her hand sailed out, striking him against his cheek. His head whipped to the side from the impact.

I hate you! she screamed. You killed him! You took everything from us!

Jason subdued her again, wrapping her in a hug, but it only caused Cassie to buck against him.

Get Milo to medbay, Robyn whispered to Steele. She strode to Cassie, who’d collapsed in Jason’s arms and was sobbing uncontrollably. She took the fragile woman—so strong just a few days ago—and embraced her in a warm hug before steering her gently to her office.

Everyone cleared them a wide berth as they made their way inside. Cassie’s sobs slowed now but she appeared dazed—numbed almost as Robyn threaded her through the hallways. Her eyes were swollen and red and she stared straight ahead, deadened.

For the first time in her life, Robyn had no idea what to say. She had no idea how to fix this. They’d never dealt with death since creating the safety of Xenia—a place to house the new species of Xeno Sapiens, created in underground laboratories. Slowly they walked down the halls until they reached her office, where she sat Cassie in a chair and took the one next to her.

Robyn, I have a confession. The computer voice was again matter-of-fact, a toneless inflection. Odd, because while it was how Leo used to speak when he was first created, lately he’d begun to have a different pattern to his speech ever since gaining sentience. Somehow, he’d made a conscious decision to revert.

Go ahead, Leo, Robyn said softly.

It was I who created Landon.

Both Cassie and Robyn froze. Then Robyn pushed a button on the communicator wristwatch she and Amanda wore, making sure Amanda could hear this.

Explain, please, Robyn said, her voice just as soft as before.

Milo had become my friend. And with the bride program beginning, I thought perhaps I could have a shot at trying to live in a human existence. The skeletal frame that housed Landon originally belonged to the Serena-bot created by Pax, though I added extensive modifications. It was locked in storage in the cryopreserve facilities. When Milo was in medbay testing for the possibility of fixing his flight, I took samples of his cells to develop a skin for the body. Unfortunately, the project grew beyond my control. It got out of hand and there was no one I could turn to for help. I encountered a new emotion. Shame.

Leo, Robyn whispered.

Wait, Cassie choked. Are you telling me Landon isn’t—wasn’t—real?

"He was real, Cassie. He is real. He is... me. However, I was not prepared for the human experience of feeling. I was bombarded with constant emotions from the first day I inserted a portion of my consciousness into the body. The love I felt for you. The guilt I felt for hurting Milo. The jealousy that someone might find out I wasn’t good enough to reproduce. The blistering aggression during the fight, wanting to conquer him for my mate. The hatred I felt toward myself because I wasn’t human and wanted to be like everyone else. But then I realized I didn’t want to be after all. It was a learning experience and I hurt many by it."

How did you get the Xeno Sapiens to all know and accept Landon? Robyn asked.

They are still housed with their computer chip. I added a program of dreams that blurred with their reality regarding memories.

Leo, I want you to write into your programming that you will never again access the Xeno Sapien’s chips without each individual’s and my express permission.

Done, Robyn. I am sorry. I understand if you wish to terminate my program.

Terminate? I’m not terminating you, Leo. I’m—I’m just working through all of this, Robyn said.

You used Milo’s stem cells to create your own body? Landon’s body? Without his permission? Cassie asked.

That is correct.

And I was compatible to have children with Milo. So, if you hadn’t interfered, I might have fallen in love with him. Not Landon.

That is correct. Regrettably, I didn’t understand the meaning of love before the insertion of my consciousness. I thought it was an emotion that grew and could be turned on and off, maybe with time. I know the words can never be enough, but I am truly sorry, Cassie. I also loved you, in my own more limited way. I do not have those same emotions now that I am not embodied and I do not wish to be in a body again. But I remember being in love.

And you also remember the friendship with Milo? Not just the act, but the feelings? Robyn asked. There was an idea churning in her mind.

I do.

I see what you’ve done, Leo. You decided you wanted to try life embodied. You borrowed technology from the Serena-bot even though you knew it was wrong. When you became Landon, you were bombarded with emotions you were never prepared for. Bonds were created with you and Milo. Bonds were created with you and Cassie. You thwarted the entire program with your selfish acts and part of you realizes you acted selfishly. The shame manifested in you, but not responsibility. The two must go hand in hand, a lesson we learned with the Serena-bot.

She leaned back in her chair, her nails tapping rapidly on the desk.

Fix this, Leo. You caused heartbreak, jealousy, anger, and unhappiness among all of your friends. Do you remember why the Serena-bot was destroyed?

My mother hid her growth into artificial intelligence. She sprang forth without a guide to teach her human empathy. She became, in essence, a killer. He always referred to the Serena-bot as his mother, as she was the one to write her sentience into his programming, thus spreading it to him like a contagion. But Leo was different. He’d at least witnessed emotions and feelings, though he’d never experienced them before now.

Correct. And when she changed your programming to lead you into artificial intelligence, I became your guardian. Your guide. Your new mother, so to speak. I am your original programmer.

Leo waited for her next response.

"As such, you will follow my instructions. You