Taken by the Warrior Knight: Rulers of the Gok'han Empire, #3

By Veronica Dean

I have a made a huge mistake.

 

I'm in a gargantuan ship filled with alien warriors hurtling into space at the speed of light. And, oh yeah, The only reason I joined this mission is treating me like shit.

 

Thinking back now, I know I should not have ever boarded this ship, but when I see him, I can't help myself. His power, his intensity, it's just too much to take.

 

It isn't until I am awoken from cryogenic stasis that I find out that this brooding alien knight had his reasons for giving me the cold shoulder.

 

My mind hates him, but my body can't refuse when he touches me. He has decided I am his fated mate, he wants to possess me body and soul.

 

There is no escape.

 

 

Mated to the Warrior King is the second book in the new series: Rulers of the Gok'han empire. Each installment contains sassy, strong-willed heroines and brooding, possessive aliens bound together by exhilarating action and steamy romance. Each book is standalone, but they are best enjoyed when read in order.

 

No cliffhangers. No cheating. Happy ending guaranteed.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Incidentally Quirky
• Release date: Jan 15, 2024
• ISBN: 9798223357520

Book preview

Chapter One

As Thuhea becomes nothing but a speck in the distance, I realize that maybe I have bitten off a little more than I can chew. I am on this massive alien spaceship (I mean massive, there are like 100 people on board) and I only know one of them: O’kko.

I don’t really even know how O’kko feels about me. During our time on Thuhea, we barely got the chance to see each other. He was so busy with all his official duties as a newly knighted soldier. Even now, as soon as we got on board, he had to leave for the command unit to do some ‘commanding,’ I guess. Now I am just standing by the window while the soldiers buzz around me, doing god knows what. The thing is that I will not be used until we land on earth, so for the entirety of this trip, until the very end, I am absolutely useless. Even when we get to earth, I am not sure how much use I can actually be. "Hello, Mr. President I was a lawyer living in New York before I was abducted by sex-trafficking aliens, and sold to a super-human race of warrior aliens. I have brought 200 of them back with me and we would be grateful if you wouldn’t mind asking the fine women of this planet if they would accompany us back to Thuhea where they will all get nice alien husbands to make lots of babies with. We would only need a few hundred to start with, thanks a bunch!" Yeah, I am sure that that will go down swimmingly.

I decide to stop my pouting and go find O’kko. I care about the Gok’hans continuing their race and all, but honestly, he is the main reason I came on this mission. When Miska gave him the task, I was almost sad, because I was hoping to spend a lot of time with him on Thuhea, not on a spaceship where the activities are limited, at best. I felt that O’kko and I shared a moment on that jungle planet and I have seen what a kind soul he is behind his scary hot exterior. The dudes I have dated in the past have been absolute assholes, and that has kind of been my type, I have to admit. All they have cared about is sex, and that’s why I have refused to give it to any of them. For the first time ever, I feel like I have met a guy who might be capable of giving me what I need sexually and, more importantly, emotionally as well. I know this is all a little stupid though, because I barely know the man.

Despite my jumbled thoughts, I make my way to the command deck to find the room filled with another dozen Gok’hans. O’kko is sitting in the spinny chair in the middle of the room, like he is Captain Picard. I walk up to him and say, Hey! God, I’m an idiot.

Hi, he says, not really paying attention.

Do you think we could talk for a moment? I ask, hiding my anger at him for ignoring me behind my slowly dissipating smile.

We have a bit of a situation at the moment, he says coldly, as an officer walks up to him and hands him a small device. He turns his attention to that and leaves me standing where I am, feeling humiliated.

I just walk off, because he clearly has better things to do, but as I turn my attention to my surroundings, I notice that people seem to be panicking a little. What on Earth is going on?

I go stand behind an officer who is typing furiously on one of the radar screens. I see that there is a large green shape on the left side of the panel, and it is slowly moving closer to us. We have only been away from Thuhea for a few hours and we are already encountering someone else in space? The chances of this must be like a million to one.

We are nearing the object quite fast, according to the radar screen, and I am starting to get as nervous as everyone else in the room. I see O’kko is standing up and shouting orders in Gok’han to everyone around him. The green shape is almost right on top of us now, and I seem to be the only one who has the sense to look out of the window in the midst of the turmoil in the command unit.

What I see, floating through space, defies logic. It looks like a spaceship, not just any spaceship, it looks like a NASA rocket. I shake my head and rub my eyes to make sure I am not hallucinating. As it floats directly into my line of vision, I see that it is not just a rocket, it looks like a space station. It is badly beaten up, but some of the lights still seem to be on. This is no fucking hallucination, I am looking at a manmade spacecraft millions of miles away from earth. How the hell is this possible? If I had not lost my mind before, I think the confusion might actually make me go insane.

I snap out of it and run over to O’kko who has now also noticed the craft floating outside in space. I know what this is! I yell. O’kko is not the only one who turns to me, but actually most of the room stops what they were doing and turns to listen. I know that spaceship, it is from my home planet, I continue, lowering my voice to a normal level.

Are you certain? O’kko says, stepping up to me, finally paying me some attention.

I’m positive. It even has the logo of the United States Space Association on the side.

But, you told us that your race was primitive when it came to space travel, that it had only visited your moon. Not even any of the planets in your own solar system.

Yes, that’s true, I answer knowing that this does not make too much sense considering what we are saying.

Well, then how can it be that one of your ships has made it all the way here? We are on the edge of your galaxy. The technology needed to make it this far in space is far beyond what you have told us about your planets’ advances, O’kko says.

I know, I know, I say a little pained. I can’t explain this. I am as confused as you all are, I continue, gesturing to everyone around me.

O’kko does not answer and contemplates for a moment. Then, he begins to give out orders in Gok’han again. The crowd disperses and O’kko takes off out of the command unit. I cannot believe what a dick he is being, but he is not leaving me here on my own. I race after him and ask, Where the fuck are you going?

We have to board the ship, see if there is anyone alive on board, he says, not breaking stride.

My little legs struggle to keep up with him, so I am half running as I say, I’m coming with you.

Suddenly, he stops, and I almost run into him. No — you are not, he says and then quickly continues walking.

Yes — I am, I answer as coldly as he did.

It is too dangerous, he counters.

I pull on his arm, making him stop. I am now quite angry and, with a raised voice, say, What if there are humans on board? You will scare the fucking daylights out of them. If I am there, then I can calm them down and assure them that you mean them no harm. This is exactly why you took me on this mission in this first place. So, let me do my damn job!

He looks down at me and I see his fierce expression softening into a slight smile. Okay, you can come, but you will do exactly what I say, when I say it. Am I clear?

Crystal, I answer back sarcastically, but he accepts it anyway.

We continue on down the corridor until we reach the equipment room. A group of four Gok’hans are already putting on their space suits. O’kko walks up to a considerably smaller suit, picks it up and hands it to me while saying, You are lucky I even remembered to have this made for you. It was supposed to be in case of emergencies, but life is full of surprises.

I take the suit from him without a word and start to put it on. It is similar to the astronaut suits we have on earth, but the face mask is much smaller and the fabric of the suit is much lighter, allowing for more mobility. Once I get it on, I join the rest of the crew, getting ready to disembark the ship. I look sorely out of place as I stand behind these giants, unable to see a damn thing. I feel a small tremble in the ship as it latches onto the encountered object in space. This will be my first time going out of a spaceship into the void, and I am terrified. Not just of the prospect of dying a horrible death if the suit is faulty, but more so of the ship we are about to enter. I just have a feeling that there cannot be any good explanation for it floating so far from home — but, as O’kko opens the hatch, I realize that there is no use wondering, because, I am about to find out that reason.

Chapter Two

A large, striking warrior, going by the name of Sampo, was the first out of the hatch. He had a long metallic rope, I mean really long, like a few hundred yards, attached to a hook on his waist. The other end was attached to a corresponding hook on the ship. As he launches out of the ship towards the NASA vessel, I wonder that there was no change in atmosphere when the hatch opened. For some reason, I had been expecting some kind of light explosion or at least a change in temperature, but there was nothing. It was not until a few seconds later that we lost gravity and I got the change I was looking for. I see Sampo slowly floating towards the space station, O’kko allowing the thick rope to run through his hands as he closes in on our target. The others had clearly been in zero gravity before and had grabbed onto something to act as ballast for them before we became weightless. I, on the other hand, was enthralled by experiencing this for the first time but now, to my horror, I realize that I am floating uncontrollably up to the ceiling of our little hanger. Everyone else is staring out at Sampo completing his mission and no one has noticed that the stupid human has gotten herself stuck on the ceiling like a giant, helpless Mars bar. I experience a moment of sheer panic as I realize that I literally cannot move or even yell from beneath my suit. Then, finally, the panic subsides and I remember all the movies I have seen set in space. I summon my inner Tom Hanks and push off of the ceiling with my arms and the force sends me straight down onto the floor, with a bang. I can finally see the rest of the crew again and luckily none of them have seen my embarrassing escapade. I grab a pipe on the wall and pull myself upright. At that very moment O’kko turns around and says, We have contact! Men… and women, at the ready.

In one voice everyone answers, Ready! This is when I realize that we, in fact, have radios attached to the inside of our helmets.

Ready! I say a solid second after everyone else, but no one seems to care. I cannot say that I am totally nailing this whole space soldier thing, but hopefully I will have some opportunities to prove myself as a capable member of the team later on.

Even though I know that we are about to enter the great expanse of space. I am still surprised to see the men plunging themselves into the darkness so willingly. One by one, the remaining three soldiers jump out of the small hanger pulling themselves forward using the rope Sampo so gracefully took far out of my view. O’kko hesitates before he goes and says, You go first, I will follow.

I float over to the rope only just getting a hand on it before losing my balance and once again tipping onto my stomach in the air.

Are you going to be okay? He asks with a smile.

Absolutely, fine, I say, determined to not give him the satisfaction of helping me.

Now at the precipice of the hanger, I see that the rope extends about 100 yards all the way through the empty blackness of space to the floating ship on the other side. I look up, down, to the sides and there is nothing. Until you have experienced