Free Marauder Kain: Scifi Alien Invasion Romance (Mating Wars Book 5) by Aya Morningstar

train them for.
    The shuttle touches down in the main hangar, and the roof shuts above me. When I step outside, I see line after line of uniformed Seraph waiting for me.
    They try to snap to attention in unison, but they’re completely disjointed. One even falls over.
    I want to shake my head, but I snap to attention to meet them.
    They’re all watching me. Clearly they know I’m the one who will train them. They’ve all sacrificed everything to be here, to receive this training. I am their first impression of Darkstar– of being a Marauder.
    I better sell it.
    “On your homes,” I say, speaking loud and projecting my voice so it fills the hangar. “On Earth, Mars, and Venus, what do they call you?”
    The Seraphim stand lined up, though some risk looking at each other. They don’t know if they are supposed to speak. I twitch my ears to give them a hint.
    “Fallen Seraphim!” someone from the back shouts.
    “Yes,” I say, pointing toward him. “They call you Fallen Seraphim. But this is wrong. You are not Fallen Seraphim...you are simply Marauders that have yet to rise up. Here, on Darkstar, we will make you into true Marauders. Through sweat and training on this cold, hard planet, we will make you into Marauders….”
    They are all looking at me now, all standing straighter...but I need to say something more to really get them on board.
    “Fallen Seraphim…,” I say, my voice full of loathing. “How dare they call you that, as if they know what it means to be a Seraphim– to be a Marauder. The only ones who will fall will be the humans. When Darkstar is done– when you are done– all humans will be fallen humans. We will destroy their planets one by one, obliterate them. Those left will descend in chaos and anarchy, killing each other while we stand strong and united. We will rise up, and they will fall!”
    Now they cheer. Thousands of pink hands thrusting up into the air. I smile wide and keep my ears taut, but I don’t believe a word of what I’ve said. Hopefully Adus was watching that scene through a camera, as I probably looked quite convincing.
    “Report to your barracks!” I shout, as the cheering dies down. “Sleep well, and wake first thing in the morning. I will have to break all of you if I’m to rebuild you into warriors!”
    Senka and Raius have been assigned to help me with the training. I can’t help but feel they are here more to supervise and report back to Adus on me than to actually help, but they lead the Seraphim to their barracks after my speech is over. I stand in the hangar until I’m alone.
    I still haven’t been told anything. I have been given no weapons, let in on no plans or information. I don’t even know where I’m staying.
    But I know where Kara is, and that’s really all that matters.
    With Senka and Raius gone, and the Seraphim resting until morning, now would be the time to pay her a visit. Adus may be tracking my movements, but I have to risk it.
    All of the buildings on the surface of Darkstar are connected by sealed hallways, so there’s no need to suit up and go from building to building. I travel through the hallways and toward the area where the prisoners are kept.
    When I near the prisoners’ quarters, three human men with bulging muscles– all humans who live on Darkstar are thick with muscle– cross my path.
    They stop dead when they see me, and their mouths hang open.
    “Do you not have work to do?” I snap.
    The tallest one steps forward and speaks. “We just finished mining detail...Sir.”
    His “sir” sounds almost like a question. I’m new on the surface, at least for him. He must have been taken in the last year since I don’t recognize him, though I never really visited the prisoners’ quarters very often before my time on Atlantis and Venus.
    “Kain,” I say. “Son of Grius.”
    “Brother of Adus,” another man says.
    They all look at me with knowing expressions. They seem...expectant.
    “Kara is doing well, sir,” one of