Taken By Two Aliens (Alien Scifi Menage Romance) by Meg Ripley Page A

beast was two hundred feet away and closing, and the dust it was kicking up nearly overtook Caden’s small frame; for a moment, her fear swelled up like a cloud to swallow her—but instead of turning from it, she let it sink in and sharpen her instincts, pulling the acidic feeling deeper into her body as she leapt into the air. The Bezoar collided with her at the same time as she plunged her steely fingers into four of its eyes, and a torrent of boiling liquid poured out over Caden’s hands. The beast kept moving, and she felt it swing its body around, trying to fling her from its fur. Caden pushed one hand deep into the cartilage between two of its eyes and closed around a bundle of sinewy fibers and tubes. She was dimly aware of Umi screaming from somewhere around her, and then she ripped her hand backward, screaming at the top of her lungs as her fingers came away covered in spinal fluid and brain matter.
    The last thing she was aware of was being toppled onto the ground. She knew that she had fallen from a height, but she couldn’t make sense of how far. She felt hands slip around her shoulders and carry her away, but there was also a curious singing coming from somewhere far above her---before she slipped out of consciousness, she wondered if they were what humans called angels, singing to her from the gates of heaven.
    “So she awoke on her own?” a female voice spoke softly.
    “Yes. I healed her after the crash and found that the trauma had jostled her empathy board awake. Then we were attacked.”
    “Why are you not hurt?”
    “She shielded me both times—during the crash, and from the Bezoar. She took it down herself.”
    The owner of the first voice gasped. “So it’s true---she took down an Octo-Bezoar herself?”
    “All by herself.”
    Caden realized she was lying on a soft surface in an immaculately clean room. She opened her eyes, and after a moment, two shapes swam into view. Umi was talking to a short, curvy alien with brilliant violet skin and piercing lime-green eyes. The figure wore a deep blue robe that covered her from neck to toe. Caden thought it was a women.
    The female Hyppo smiled at Umi. “And you two are bonded now, I see? Does that mean you’re keeping her?”
    Caden’s heart pounded and she closed her eyes part-way. What?
    “That’s up to her, of course,” Umi said, his voice bashful. “I didn’t know they were sending her with me to be in my detail, and she didn’t either.”
    “Well, Earth only recently decided to lend us help,” the female Hyppo said. “Most of the cypeople probably don’t know they’re being reassigned to us.”
    “Most of them don’t know something is wrong on our planet at all,” Umi said, and his tone was dripping with misery. “They’re coming into the situation totally blind. What if none of them can really help us? What if we’re only sending them to their deaths?”
    “Umi!” The female Hyppo’s tone was one of admonishment. “You know better than to doubt our predictions. The High Council is infallible.”
    “The High Council is all,” Umi said, but his words sounded empty and automatic, utterly without feeling. “The High Council says we’re all helping each other. I feel like we’re all missing something.” Caden hadn’t heard him sound so bitter before this. It bothered her.
    “That may be,” the female Hyppo allowed. “But I think that’s a matter for another day. Our soils need to be replenished. Our people are starving. Our very suns are freezing over. We must do something.” The Hyppo turned her head and smiled, and Caden’s eyes snapped shut, but it was too late. “And I think your cyborg is awake.”
    Caden opened her eyes as Umi twisted around to peer through the doorway and into the stark white room. His face lit up as he smiled, and he slipped into the small room and closed the door as Caden sat up.
    “Are you ok?” he asked, kneeling before her on the bed. His cerulean eyes were peering into hers, and he