Elemental Warriors: Origins: A SciFi Alien Warrior Romance Read online

  Table of Contents

  Free Paranormal Romance

  Title Page

  Enterlude: The End

  Phase One: Dumor Poldir - Present Day

  Phase Two:

  Phase Three:

  Phase Four:

  Exitlude: The Beginning

  About the Author

  Want to receive a FREE copy of this full-length Alien Paranormal Romance by bestseller author Ashley West?

  Simply click the cover below

  Elemental Warriors

  Origins

  Ashley West

  Enterlude: The End

  The Aether - Past

  "Who comes?"

  "Time. Time comes."

  "Time comes too late."

  "Time comes when Time means to arrive. Never before or after."

  A fluttering of amusement from Ice, not so cold as to be unfeeling. A warm gesture from Fire, signifying that Time was welcome.

  "What does Time want?"

  "Who can say?"

  "Earth? What say you?"

  A slow, sleepy rumble from the steadiest of them. "I say Time comes too soon."

  "Time comes when Time means to arrive."

  "Yes, you said."

  All of this was a confusing jumble. Not words, not language in any way that any mortal would know it. Instead it was thoughts, feelings, gestures, and instincts. One element to another, power incarnate.

  The Elements were alive. They were thriving. They were the world and of the world. Everything existed because of them and they existed because of everything. No one could say what had come first, but out of the natural forces of the universe had come these beings. Bold and bright and beautiful.

  Their forms were ephemeral, constantly shifting from one thing to the next. They were pure energy, their elements in a solid form, and no one with mortal eyes could gaze upon them.

  "Wind, Wind, do you hear? Do you hear?" called Lightning across the chasm of darkness. "Time approaches."

  Wind whispered and whistled an acknowledgement. "Water, do you feel the shift?"

  Water burbled. "Yes, yes. The shift comes with Time. Darkness, what do you see?"

  Darkness rippled and shifted, but there was no answer. Darkness was often the taciturn one of them.

  "Time comes! Time comes! Time comes!" Nature enthused, flighty and excitable. "Time is here!"

  The others hung back, waiting. Time, usually stayed to itself. It had one of the most important jobs when it came to keeping balance. It had to guide the rising and falling of the sun, the moon. It had to keep the sands moving in their glasses, measure the passage of shadows. One wrong move, and the balance could be broken, throwing the rest of them out of whack. When Time moved, everyone else paid attention.

  "Fellows," Time whispered, voice measured. "Something comes."

  "Other than you?" Fire crackled.

  "Other than me. I have seen into the hearts of mortals. I have seen the change of time."

  “What comes?”

  There was a moment of silence and then Time let them into its vision. It showed them all the way things would change. The way mortals would grow greedy, hungry for powers that were never meant to be theirs.

  It was horrific, the wars that would be fought, the things that would be done. Balance would be broken, and not easily restored, and all the Elements feared for what would become of the universe if this were to come to pass.

  “I have seen,” Time said again. “And now you have seen. And we must act.”

  No one spoke up. No one knew how to act. They had always known that mortals were cold creatures; that they sought things that were never theirs to have in the hopes of being more than they were. They never did know when to leave well enough alone, and while that had led to their growth, their thriving, this would cause the ruination of them as well as everything else that called the universe home.

  “We must act,” agreed Earth, steady and firm. “What shall we do?”

  Again, no one spoke. They had never considered this before. That they would have to face something like this. There were no plans for how to keep mortals from destroying themselves.

  Fire flickered for a moment and then blazed with an idea. "You will not like it," it warned the others.

  "We do not like this," Darkness swelled to remind Fire. "Anything is helpful now."

  "We must remove our power."

  None of them responded for a moment, but then Time spoke. "How?"

  "By changing. By shifting. By becoming small and hidden."

  "How would we hide the powers of the world?" Water burbled. "We are immense. We are everything."

  The others seemed to agree, and even Fire seemed unsure that its plan was the right one. "I know," it replied. "But if we are small and hidden then the mortals can't have us. They cannot take us."

  "And where would we hide? What about the balance?" said Ice, stabbing to the heart of the matter.

  "The power wouldn't be gone," Fire said. "Just hidden. With those we could trust."

  Trust was a notion that the elements weren't all that familiar with. It was a more mortal emotion, something they had no experience with, but they understood what Fire was getting at. If they could entrust their power, their very selves with those who would keep them safe, then the problem would be solved.

  "What will keep the greedy ones from going after those that we entrust?" Wind wanted to know.

  "Even those that we entrust will not know where to find us. We will be so small, so hidden. Just a part of their homes and their lives. We will be as one with their land, of the world and in the world. And in time no one will remember what we once were."

  It was a sad pronouncement. They had so enjoyed being what they were. Living, watching, holding the reins of the world. But Fire had a point, and Time had a vision, and so they would have to sacrifice if they were to keep the universe from falling into ruin. Balance would be maintained, even if it meant that they would sacrifice themselves to do it.

  "What form shall we take?" asked Water, who was always concerned with the shape of things.

  No one had an answer for that for a moment until Earth spoke, the rumble of its voice filling them. "Stones," it said. "Gems. Tiny and bright. We will bury ourselves in the hearts of the world and draw on their strength as we lend our own."

  "It will change the people," warned Time. "It will change their course."

  "Everything changes course eventually," Water said. "And this will be for the best. You have seen it."

  "I have seen it," Time agreed. "We will do this."

  "Do we have time to watch and choose?"

  Time was hushed as it searched. And then, "Yes."

  "Then we will do so."

  On a clear night, some time later, an explosion rocked the sky. People on their planets came out of their homes to look up, faces turned to the heavens. They knew little of what lay beyond their own atmospheres and they revered the stars as all seeing. As they watched, light built right in the center of the sky and then slowly, it shifted.

  Streaks of light shot out from the ball in the center, red and blue and green and white and other colors in between.

  The lights streaked across the sky and seemed to go on forever until they vanished.

  Eventually, the lights all faded, and the sky was dark once more, as if nothing had happened at all.

  Phase One: Dumor Poldir - Present Day

  “Tell me the story again. Properly this time.”

  Caden snorted and looked the woman up and down, amusement in his eyes. He’d never been the type who just couldn’t say no to a pretty face, but when i
t was a pretty face and a pretty everything else, he started to waver.

  And this woman really was pretty. Gorgeous even. Dumor was called the Pleasure Planet for a reason. It was all brothels and gambling dens and cantinas, a destination for people with money to spend and time to kill. This woman—Corinth, he thought her name was—fit right in.

  She was an Abalessi, a race that looked almost identical to the humans of Earth. It kept them from being taken seriously by some races, but others sought them out. Especially those who ran brothels and pleasure houses because some people’s fascination with humans was almost a fetish.

  Caden didn’t count himself among that type, but he had gone straight for Corinth when he’d shown up here. And who could blame him. She was all willowy grace and dangerous curves. Her skin was nut brown and smooth, and she had the most perfect breasts of any creature in any race he’d ever come across. They sat, high and full on her chest as she stood there with her hands on her hips, watching him.

  “What’s in it for me?” he asked, arching an eyebrow.

  She arched an eyebrow and then dropped gracefully to her knees. “Let’s find out.”

  In short order, she had his pants opened and his cock out, her slender, perfect fingers wrapped around it, giving it slow, small strokes as she kept her eyes on him.

  "You know I can make this good for you," she murmured, never looking away. Her lips got closer to the head of his cock. "I can make you forget everything."

  Caden swallowed. He didn't doubt it. "If you make me forget everything, how can I tell you the story?" he asked, trying for glib, but just sounding breathless. When a beautiful woman had her hand around him, he was sure that was the proper response.

  She shrugged an elegant shoulder, fingers tightening. "Because if you don't tell me, I'll stop."

  "That sounds like extortion," Caden said, but there was never any question of him not doing it. She was cunning, this woman. Cunning and clever and unbelievably attractive. And as skilled with her hands as she was with her mouth. He was in for it.

  "Do we have a deal?" she asked him.

  He could have brought up the fact that he was paying for her time, and therefore she was supposed to do what he said until that time was up, but he rather liked it when she was bossy. He liked that she was willing to hold his cock in her hands and demand to get what she wanted.

  "We do," he replied. "It's a story my grandfather used to tell me."

  No sooner had he started talking than she grinned, leaned forward and licked the head of his cock. "Keep going," she murmured, soft, full lips brushing the sensitive flesh.

  "Minx," he muttered, drawing in a deep breath. "My grandfather used to...ah...tell me the story. In the beginning, there was only light. Light and energy. In time, these forces coalesced into beings. Beings so pure they couldn't be touched. They removed themselves from the...mmm...from the planets, taking up a place in the great blackness of the universe to watch and to guide."

  "Mmhmm," Corinth hummed, the vibrations traveling through to his cock and making him tip his head back and let out a shaky breath. She glanced up and flicked an eyebrow at him in a gesture that clearly meant 'and then what?'.

  "They kept...they kept the universe in balance," Caden said, fingers curling into a fist and breath quickening. "Guiding the forces that rule. Time, Water, Fire, Ice, things like that. Things that were too great for the mere mortals to understand and touch."

  Corinth snorted her amusement and then did something with her tongue that nearly made Caden's eyes roll back into his head. He swallowed hard, dry mouthed, and tried to get himself back on focus. When he paused for longer than she deemed acceptable, Corinth pulled back off of his length, full lips pursed in a pout.

  "We had a deal," she reminded him.

  "I know that," Caden replied. "It's just hard to concentrate with you doing that."

  "I can do something else," she offered, lips twisting into a wicked smirk.

  "Don't you dare. I've gone through worse than this."

  She rolled her eyes at him. "I'm sure this is such a hardship. Keep talking."

  Corinth applied her mouth back to his heated flesh, and Caden let out a breath and then another, curling fingers into her dark hair to ground himself as he picked the tale back up with a shaky voice.

  “I don’t know why you said properly before,” he said, swallowing. “I told you the same way it was told to me. The elements, those forces, were in control of the universe, even though they—sweet Stars, don’t stop—even though they mostly just ob..observ...watched. They mostly just watched. But then something changed.”

  Corinth’s eyes flashed the question and Caden bucked his hips.

  “No one knows for sure what happened. But they knew the mortals were going to get greedy. Just…” He swallowed and then swallowed again, letting out a breath. “Just like mortals always do. They got greedy and then the powers changed themselves. They turned into the powers that live in the hearts of the Elemental Planets.”

  Everyone knew about those. The Elemental Planets didn’t have much in common other than the fact that they were home to Elemental Warriors, warriors who used the powers of the element of their planet to fight and defend their people. They were scattered all over various solar systems, had different systems of government, and the people who lived there were all different.

  Corinth pulled off of his cock again, and this time Caden sighed with relief. The cooler air of the room felt lovely against the heated, wet skin of his erection, and he was grateful for the breather. Mostly because he had something else in mind for the lovely Corinth.

  “So, you’re saying that the Elemental Planets became what they are because of these beings?” she arched an eyebrow, skeptical. “I’ve never heard of that before.”

  Caden shrugged a shoulder. “I’m only telling you what I’ve heard. My grandfather told me that story all the time, since I was old enough to understand what it meant.”

  “And who told it to him?” Corinth wanted to know.

  “Dunno. He never mentioned that, and he’s dead now. Got caught in that shuttle explosion five years ago,” Caden explained.

  “I’m sorry to hear that,” Corinth said, tracing the skin of his thigh with a finger. “Do you think anyone else in your family would know where the story came from?”

  “Probably not. Anyway, why’re you so interested?” Caden tipped his head to one side to look at her.

  She shrugged and gave him a slow smile. “It’s a good story. I happen to like good stories. This isn’t all I do, you know. I don’t just stay here, waiting for the next strapping young warrior to come through the door and take me in his arms. I have a life outside this house, and I like to know about things.”

  Caden had the decency to be shamefaced at that. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I didn’t mean anything by the question. I’ve just never had anyone be so curious before. Of course you have a life outside of this.”

  Corinth smiled, seemingly satisfied. “Have you told it all, then?” she wanted to know.

  “As near as I can remember it.”

  “Then are we done here?”

  He frowned and then arched an eyebrow right back at here. “Hardly,” he said. With strong hands, he pulled her to her feet and got up with her, pushing her until she was backed up against the wall nearest to the door. He leaned in close, mouth a breath from hers. “There’s still twenty on the dial,” he said. “There’s so much I can do with twenty.”

  Her laugh was light and airy in response. “Oh, really? I’d like to see that.”

  And that was enough to ignite the fierce need to show her exactly what he could do. He bypassed her lips, going for her neck instead, dragging a breath and then setting his teeth against her warm skin. She tasted good when he flicked his tongue out to soothe the bite he’d left, and she gave him an encouraging moan in response.

  She arched against him, and Caden slid a hand down her body. She was all soft skin and svelte curves, and he just wanted her under him
as soon as possible. But that didn't mean he couldn't get her worked up first. After all, it was always better when a woman wanted you as much as you wanted her.

  "I told you a story," he murmured against the skin of her neck, hand sliding up to cup one of her breasts. "And what did I get out of it?"

  She made an affronted noise that was only slightly taken away from by the moan that followed it. "You got my mouth on your cock," Corinth reminded him. "That's not nothing."

  "No," he agreed. "It's not. But there's so much more I want. Come here."

  Caden stooped just enough to pick her up, hauling her over his shoulder like a sack of grains. She squeaked and then laughed, and it was a beautiful sound.

  "Oaf," she accused.

  "You like it."

  He put her down on the bed and spread her out so that he could see every inch of her. Truly, she was beautiful. Her skin was so brown against the sheets, her hair spread out like a halo around her head. It was almost easy to forget that she was from some planet nearby, just like he was. She looked so much like a human, and the pleasure house had chosen well when it had picked her to be one of its girls.

  "You are like nothing I have ever seen before," Caden said, dipping his head to press kisses to her throat, her collarbones, her chest. He made his way to her breasts and took one dark nipple into his mouth, sucking at it until Corinth whined and then nipping it lightly with his teeth.

  The shudder that went through her was like a reward, so he did the same to the other nipple.

  She smelled so good. Heady and sweet, something that was like perfume, but was more likely just a part of her. It was half her arousal and half something delicious, and Caden was pretty sure he could lose himself in it if he tried hard enough. Not that he wanted that. This was a momentary diversion, not something he could afford to do all the time.

  Still, there wasn't anything wrong with getting his money's worth, now was there?

  "I want you to say my name," he said. "When you come."

  She snorted and gave him an arch look. "Confident, are we?"

  "Do you blame me?"