Free The Arrival: A Sci-Fi Alien Warrior Paranormal Romance by Ashley West

guards didn't move from their spots, but Abby knew they were all listening, and that they would report back to their leader if she spilled anything they didn't want her to. The pressure was incredible, and she swallowed hard.
    "I didn't see Nathan," she answered, because at least that was the truth and she didn't have to make anything up, which would at least buy her some time to come up with whatever she was going to say to their first question. "I don't know what happened to him."
    "Probably mouthed off to the wrong guard," Tiffany said. "That's so like him." In the five months they'd been in the same cell together, they'd had time to get to know Nathan pretty well. His mannerisms and attitude, at least.
    "You think?" the man asked. "And what would they do to him?"
    "What do you think they did to him?" Tiffany fired back. "What are they going to do to all of us?"
    Maybe the conversation would turn from her, and she wouldn't be called on to say anything else. Maybe they'd run with their theories and ideas for a while and leave her alone.
    "Maybe she knows," the man was saying, pointing at her. "Abby, right? What happened in there?"
    Or not.
    "I..." God. What was she supposed to tell them? "I met their leader."
    A hush fell over the group, and Abby saw the guards leaning in closer. They had no visible weapons, but she wasn't taking any chances.
    "And what happened?" Tiffany prompted, obviously impatient.
    "They...it was...you know. Intimidation stuff. Threats. Stuff like that." Still not a lie.
    "But why?" someone wanted to know. "What are they threatening us for?"
    "I don't know. It seemed like...like she just wanted me to know that they could kill us. All of us and everyone we've ever loved on top of that. Just so we'd stay in line or something. I don't know. We didn't do a lot of chatting. Just me standing there and her making threats."
    That seemed to satisfy the group, and they broke off into pairs and trios to whisper amongst themselves. One of the guards caught her eye and arched an eyebrow before inclining his head. Clearly, she'd done alright.
    What happened next, she didn’t know. These creatures had some kind of a plan in mind, something that would destroy whoever came against them, but the real question was what that meant for the humans and the planet Earth.

Chapter Five: Escape
    This was all wrong.
    Completely and utterly wrong.
    Nothing like this was supposed to happen to him, and the fact that it had just made him angry. Well. Angrier than he already was.
    Once again, he was in the presence of these creatures. The Camadors with their otherworldly beauty, masking the true horrors that they really were. It had been four years since he'd last laid eyes on one, but the sight of them still turned his stomach.
    He didn't know if any of the ones who were standing before him were involved in the attack on Gollen Par, but he was willing to bet that they were. He was willing to bet that they'd taken pleasure in slaughtering his friends and comrades and then watching the city burn. That was how they operated.
    Everything had been going according to plan at first. He'd left his apartment with the ship, his sights set on Earth. The ship had held up for the entire journey, though the landing had left something to be desired, and he followed the trail of chaos to the floating city.
    The people of Earth all seemed confused as to what was happening to them.
    Most of them knew that there was some sort of attack happening, but they didn't know who was attacking them or why. The city that the Camadors were hovering over was still in one piece, which wasn't what Sorrin had been expecting at all. He'd thought he'd be arriving to find another Gollen Par of four years ago, flames and death everywhere.
    Instead there were just people going about their day to day lives with a floating city above their heads. It was easy to tell who was missing someone, because there were posters up everywhere he walked, begging for help in finding