Page 21 of Tamed by the Alien Warlord
GEORGIA
A few months have passed, but it still feels like we’ve stepped out of a war into a world made just for us.
The Ravager hums through the Badlands, its engines steady and strong. I’m in the galley, raining spice onto fresh potato hash—Lanz’s favorite. He sighs in delight as I place the plate before him, and the warmth of his smile still ignites something inside me.
Jasmine stands nearby, arms crossed over her chest. She’s wearing hardened leather armor, polished and painted. A knife sheath fastened to her thigh and a sleek Reaper pistol holstered at her waist. She’s lost none of her edge, but I see the softened lines when she thinks I’m not looking.
“You know,” I say, ladling hash onto her plate, “you’re becoming quite the Reaper.”
She shrugs, lips tight. “It’s… easier this way. Makes me feel like I belong.”
I kneel beside her, hand on her arm. “You do belong. Just… more than armor and guns, okay?”
She gives me a brief, crooked smile—more promise than thank-you.
After breakfast, we gather in the command deck. Lanz sits in the captain’s seat again—still missing an arm, still surrounded by scars, still the fiercest thing in the room. I lean against the console, heart thumping with the news swirling inside me.
He looks up at me, expression soft. “Everything okay, love?”
I swallow hard. Jasmine tenses across from us, curious but cautious.
I take a deep breath.
“I have something to tell you.”
Lanz’s hand tightens around the console edge. “You have my entire attention.”
I reach inside my shirt and squeeze the gentle swell of my belly.
I watch his eyes go wide—first with surprise, then with that same fierce adoration that drew me to him. “Carrying… a Reaper?”
I nod, tears stinging.
He stands, crossing the deck in three long strides. His good arm wraps around me, pulling me close.
“You’re… you’re married to me,” he breathes. “We’re mated. Our blood is intertwined. And now our child…”
I laugh, choking through tears. “Yes. A tiny pirate-Reaper-human bundle.”
He closes his eyes, forehead pressing to mine. “You’re my everything. I promise to protect both of you, always.”
I rest a hand on his chest, feeling the steady beat of his heart.
“And you promised to punish me when I get mouthy,” I tease, voice light.
He grins, shadowed with ferocity. “Consider that promise expanded to ‘punish you lovingly’—once you’re able to yell for a reason.”
I laugh again, leaning into him.
Jasmine clears her throat.
Lanz straightens, still holding me. He says, “Your turn.”
She steps forward. I half-step away to give her room.
Jasmine drops her gaze, voice quiet but firm. “I’m… happy for you both. I’m… I’m okay.”
Lanz releases me and moves to wrap an arm around Jasmine’s shoulders—but she bows her head.
I step beside her, gently tilting her chin. “You don’t have to be okay all at once. We’re here. Whatever happens.”
She meets our eyes and nods again, lips quivering. “Thank you.”
The silence between us holds — not empty, but complete.
Lanz turns to me again. “So… what now?”
I trace circles on my belly. “We keep living. We expose the Combine. We fight for our child’s future.”
He brushes a kiss to my forehead. “Sounds like a proper family mission.”
I smile, leaning into him. “Best mission yet.”
He presses a fingertip to the small gold band on my hand. “Family. Love. War. Child. Reaper bloodline.”
I laugh, tears soft on my cheek. “Exactly.”
He dips his head and we kiss — gentle, slow, holy.
Jasmine watches. Then she holds out her hand, palm up.
I grasp it. Lanz slips his arm around both of us.
We stand in a three-way embrace, a mismatched but perfect curve of arms and hearts.
Beyond the viewport, asteroids drift through purple haze — stars glinting like distant promises.
Lanz inhales. “It’s beautiful.”
I glance at the world outside. “And it’s ours.”
He leans to kiss my belly softly.
He says, “Welcome to the crew.”
Our future rides on the Ravager now. The baby will arrive in the Badlands starfields. They’ll know good stories there.
We stand, entwined — fated mates, crew, sisters, parents-to-be — in a battered starship built for survival, love, and revolution.
And as the stars pass by, I know that, for the first time, we’re living happily ever after.