Alien Knight Blind Date Disaster

as Queen Sasha sat opposite her in a comfortable chair. Dagan came to stand behind her, his hands on either side of her head, fingers curled around the chair’s high back. This had turned into an interrogation. A gentle one, but still an interrogation.
Falden’s hands balled into fists at his sides, and he actually ached to draw his sword, the instinctive need to protect Isabella pouring into him with a rage he’d never experienced before and had a difficult time controlling. What the hell was happening to him?
Isabella fidgeted on the sofa. “I’m sorry about that. I wasn’t expecting Falden to show up.”
King Dagan narrowed his eyes. “So, you were expecting the attack?”
Isabella sat back, her palms moving rhythmically up and down on top of her thighs. “No. The attack was a shock to me as well. I was expecting to meet a potential buyer. Sevron has been supplying me with Caldorian goods to trade on the black market for months.”
That got Falden’s attention. Sevron and his mirror twin, Torrin, had been raised on Caldor, but they were Lumerian royals, their identities hidden even from them. Falden had secretly kept an eye on them, ensuring they were safe and had the proper skills to someday lead the Lumerians should they choose to do so. “Sevron would never betray the Caldorians.”
Queen Sasha glared at him in disapproval, but he didn’t care. Sevron’s honor was above question. His gut clenched. Could he have been wrong about Isabella?
Isabella turned to look up at him over her shoulder. “He did not betray anyone. He only gave me things of value that would heal or make life easier for people. He never gave me weapons or information to sell.”
“That’s why you had the maju water and maju paste, as well as the other”—he did not want to say sex toys, so he quickly changed his choice of words—“other items.”
“Yes. I had to have a steady supply. It took me months to make contact with the high-ranking members of the smuggling operation. At that point we were really getting somewhere in our search. That’s when I began to hear rumors about the others.”
“What others?” Falden asked.
“The really bad guys, the aliens who run the Blood Market.”
King Dagan froze as if stunned. “What did you just say?”
“Slow down and start at the beginning.” Queen Sasha reached for Isabella’s hand and she welcomed the gentle assurance. The king walked around his mate’s chair and settled on the thick arm. “What search? What were you and Sevron looking for?”
“Sevron contacted me months ago and said he needed help—a human’s help. He was searching for his brother, his twin brother. Sevron had heard rumors about a black market on Earth and suspected that they had off-world contacts that might help in the search. But he needed someone they wouldn’t suspect. He was Caldorian. They never would have trusted him.”
All the air left Falden’s lungs in a rush. “This was about Torrin? He escaped from a Vilitos ship shortly after Sevron disappeared. This whole situation could’ve been avoided,” he said gruffly. “Torrin isn’t missing.”
“Well, I didn’t know that. And neither did Sevron.” Why she felt the need to defend herself, she wasn’t sure. But she did. “I was trying to get information that would lead us to Sevron’s brother. And I did. I also found a trail that will lead me to whoever is running the Blood Market.”
“No. You will drop the matter at once,” King Dagan ordered. “You will give me what information you have and walk away. It’s too dangerous.”
“This is my story. My investigation. I don’t have to stop anything. I’m about protecting planet Earth. And no offense, King Dagan, but you aren’t my king.”
“Isabella.” Falden’s low grumbled warning irritated her all the more. Her head was about to split in half. She needed caffeine. And a bed. And some god damned quiet.
“Agreed. I am not your king, Isabella. But I will protect you.”
Isabella remained silent. What was it with these alien men and their chest-pounding, caveman routine? She was a fully functional adult—most days, when her eyes weren’t aching her head didn’t feel like it was about to implode. She could take care of herself. She’d been doing it for a very long time.
When she remained quiet, King Dagan turned to look at Falden. “At least we captured one of the attackers from the bar. Gareth brought him in. He’s still in the interrogation room.”
“I’d like to speak to him.” Isabella didn’t mince words. Whoever they were, they’d arrived guns blazing. If they had been there to attack her, that meant her contact had set her up. She needed to know the truth.
“Whoever he is, he’s no concern of yours.” Falden refused to acknowledge her request. Let her talk to their prisoner? The man was going to die, there was no question about it. She didn’t need to see how Falden would accomplish the task. Or how he was going to get the information he needed. Before she could voice the protest he could see brewing in her eyes, he added, “So Sevron asked you? A female? A small, defenseless human female, to infiltrate a gang of criminals and killers? That doesn’t sound like him.”
Isabella straightened defensively. “I’m an investigative reporter. It’s what I do. Commander Bashall chose me because I have a reputation for getting results. Other reporters have contacts. I have friends, some of whom I knew would have connections with other people dealing in the black market. That’s who I was meeting the other night. The plan was to get one of them to trust me so that I could get information about the black market and, hopefully, his twin brother. But it didn’t work out like I planned.”
“In what way?” the queen asked.
Silence filled the room. She turned to look at Falden. “I found out about the Blood Market instead. And someone on the inside, someone on the Caldorian base, is selling them weapons and tech and…” she shuddered. “And people. They drink