Vados (Scifi Alien Romance) (The Ujal Book 1) by Erin Tate

Chapter One

    Vados was not a weakling to pine after a female. He was Vados fa Kotan, High Guard of Tave fa V’yl, Crown Prince of Ujal. His loyalty and dedication belonged to one person and one person only—his ruler, his friend.
    And yet…
    And yet he found himself constantly looking east, toward Florida’s coast, toward… Maris. As he stared through the alien waters, he remembered the taste of her skin, the feel of her hair on his scales, and the way her pupils grew as arousal took hold. The way she screamed his name when—
    “Vados,” Tave snapped at him, and Vados immediately swung his attention back to the prince. The male’s scales were bright blue, his dark blue hair floating in the Gulf’s cool waters.
    His agreement was immediate. “Yes, sire.”
    Tave sighed. “Do you know what you have just agreed to?”
    “Of course, sire.” He glanced at his friend and fellow guard Niax. The male would fill him in later.
    “So you have no objections to providing protection to a human doctor?”
    Vados pressed his lips together and kept his face stoic, swallowing the groan that formed in his chest. It wasn’t the fact that he would have to provide protection. It was his calling after all. But, guarding a human meant hours upon hours with two feet on land. He was at home in the seas, his bright red scales on display, and his tail flicking him from place to place. Walking was so slow.
    “Of course not, sire.” His response was once again whip-fast.
    A smile lurked on his prince’s lips, which told Vados the male knew he spoke an untruth. “Excellent. Transportation is already waiting at UST for you both. You’re dismissed.”
    UST—Ujal Station Tau—was the land-bound complement to their underwater city, Tau. When they’d come to the planet decades ago, the Ujal established cities within the oceans all around the world. Vados had visited them all with the prince, but he had to admit that Tau was his favorite.
    Because of my nearness to Maris.
    However, he would not be a soft male and say the words aloud.
    Vados frowned. “Now, sire? It is nearing midnight.”
    “Now. There is no security in place at this moment, it had been refused until now, but recent events have altered certain decisions.” Tave’s tone was grim, his expression one of murderous rage.
    “What has happened? What have the humans done?” It was always the humans committing atrocities. Against each other, against Ujal. Races… species, never mattered. If pain could be caused, a human was the catalyst. Ujals were peaceful, though more than capable of defending themselves.
    “Attacks. They began as minor annoyances, but they are escalating. Recently a home was burned to the ground.” Tave growled. “For interacting with one of us. For soiling a human body with one of ours.”
    Now Vados growled. He detested the purists—those who were determined to keep human blood from mingling with Ujal. They did not yet know that an Ujal finding a mate among the humans was highly improbable. Though, when he’d been with Maris for those few hours… he’d begun to think it was possible.
    Then the hurricane broke, giving her a chance to flee from him and… she had. Gone in the night. One passionate evening in her SUV as they waited out the massive storm, and when he’d gone to the sea to check the storm’s status, he’d returned to find her missing.
    She’d disappeared, taking a piece of his soul with her. The memory caused the ache in his heart to push forward once again.
    “…will be quartered within the subject’s home. She—”
    Vados yanked himself from his musings. “She?”
    Vados glared as Tave sighed and Niax chuckled.
    “Yes, she . A female was seen with one of us, and once word spread, as well as a few blurred long-range images, the activists attacked. She was due to begin work for UST shortly and the events accelerated the timeline. We do not have permanent quarters on site, but we have acquired several levels within a nearby