Alien Fighter's Baby (Captured Science Fiction Romance) Read Free Page B

unconsciousness worried him. He laid the tack-pistol he’d taken from Cobalt on the pullout wall desk, then he turned away from Starling and jerked open the built-in cabinet that held his clothes, extra boots, and backup weapons.
    He looked through the cabinet to find his spare knife. The Alpha-Force’s standard knife was a wicked-looking blade, and he’d just pulled it from its syntech sheath when he heard a whimpering sound behind him.
    He jerked his head around and saw that Starling was fighting the net by pushing against it with her hands and wiggling her feet. He didn’t want her to hurt herself. The net was rough—and her skin was … well … too damn soft. He grabbed the back of her neck and he got her hair and the netting.
    “Hold still. It’s Bran. I’ll cut you out of there.”
    Still, he had to force her into stillness with the pressure of his fingers spread across her nape, while he watched her helplessly panting. Then finally, her gaze focused on his face. It was as if he looked into turbulent green waters, while he watched her gaze slowly becoming clearer.
    “Bran,” she whispered, and her voice wavered.
    “That’s it, beautiful. You’ve been rescued.” Bran kneaded her delicate nape, while she clutched the netting with her fingers. “I need you to lie still, so I can get that net off you. Can you do that?”
    Starling sucked in several rough breaths, and it raised her pink nipples to quivering points. He could see that she was shaking.
    Then she barely whispered, “Yes.”
    Bran wasted no more time. He could tell Starling was fighting terror over being under the netting, so he quickly pulled the net below her feet. He spoke as he cut, because he had a powerful sense of needing to comfort her, which was foreign to him.
    “We’re on my Skitter ship, Starling. My Alpha-Force team rescued us from the Grub prison.” The knife worked, but the netting was tough, and he had to saw it.
    “Rescued?” she whispered. She sounded as if she were in a world of confusion, while her body continued to move with small, worming undulations.
    “Does the netting hurt you?” he asked.
    “Yes.” She exhaled. “I’m trying not to move. But it is biting my skin all over.”
    Bran didn’t like the sound of that. He had enough of the bottom of the net sawed open, so he decided to skip cutting more of it to try to pull it off her.
    “I’m going to pull it off now.”
    He had his back to the open hatch, yet the hairs on the back of his neck started to prickle. A sure sign someone was there. Then he heard Starling’s gasp of dismay. Frantically, she tried to cover her bare breasts and the sweet little pink between her thighs, while she began to cry.
    Bran jerked his head around.
    “Get to your post!” Bran snapped at Cobalt, who was leaning leisurely, for him, in the open hatchway with his icy blue-eyed gaze hitched on Starling.
    Bran knew, because of Starling’s struggles, that the netting had to hurt her even more, and he wasted no time to see if Cobalt had obeyed his command. He grabbed the bottom of the netting and quickly pulled it up over her bare ankles, her calves, and tugged it from beneath her thighs.
    “I’m getting it off you, beautiful. Just try to be still,” he muttered.
    He could see the red marks on her ivory-colored skin and he pulled the netting up over her hand, which was clasping ineffectually, trying to cover the soft brown curls between her thighs. Then he pulled the netting up over her rounded hips and smooth, flat belly.
    Christ, she was ripe.
    To get the net off, he had to pull her up and against his chest, where he could lift the wadded meshwork off.
    “Jesus.” Bran heard the rough voice behind his back, and knew that Cobalt hadn’t left. “I’ve never seen a woman like this one. Only in my damn dreams.”
    Bran pulled the netting free and Starling found shelter against his chest. She curled into him as if she could hide in his skin, and he felt her tears dampening his