Noxx (Alien Adoption Agency #1) - Tasha Black Page 0,3

lately it screamed every time he tried to put it down. He had taken to carrying it around like he was a gadabout and the whelp his unruly passenger.

The whole situation was a nightmare for a career soldier like Noxx. The warriors of Invicta were a ruthless force, battling evil in all its forms.

But long ago they had made a grievous mistake.

In the heat of battle the Invicta had wiped out the gentle people of planet Imber. All that remained of that race had been a DNA vault, and a mineral-rich, but empty planet.

And the rumor of a woman who claimed to be the Crown Princess of Imber, rescued by a soldier and living in refuge on Omega-7T.

Until now.

After decades of officers and ambassadors arguing about the ethics of the proposal, the Invicta had at last been granted the right to use the Imberian DNA to cultivate a crop of pod-babies to honor their fallen ancestors and resurrect their kind.

When the babies came of age, they would inherit the rich mineral deposits of Imber.

Until then, each would be watched over by a warrior of the Invicta.

Being assigned to guard one of the whelps was considered the greatest honor an Invicta could achieve.

Protecting these Imberian young from harm would regain the prestige of the ancient warrior clan. Making reparations to Imber was considered a sacred honor to his own people.

The trouble was, it was an honor Noxx wanted nothing to do with.

Once the whelp had a family to care for it, he would be nothing but a glorified bodyguard.

Twenty standard years wasn’t forever, but Noxx had goals. He certainly didn’t want to spend two decades getting soft and lazy while watching this little one roll around trying to fit its whole fist into its small mouth.

And a secret part of him was on edge about his feelings for the squishy little whelp. Lately, he had begun to take great satisfaction in feeling its warm weight against his chest.

How he was supposed to hand it over to one of those ridiculous women?

“Noxx?” a deep voice said gently.

He looked away from the scene below to find his fellow warrior, Kade standing beside him.

Kade’s golden scales gleamed in the soft light, in contrast to Noxx’s own blue tones. Their differing colors meant they descended from different linages, and wielded a different set of natural abilities. But it didn’t mean they weren’t brothers. Their bonds had been tempered in the heat of battle, which was stronger than any blood link.

Kade was speaking quietly, because his own whelp, a female, was sleeping on his chest.

Tyro, their third in this adventure, stood at Kade’s elbow, grinning down at his own whelp, a whopping big male he had actually named Atlas.

Noxx shook his head at the big green idiot.

It was bad enough they had to guard these small creatures. Must they name them and dote on them too?

Tyro would be disappointed when the babe’s new mother gave it a different name.

And the whelp would be confused.

The small creatures were not sharp. The Invicta were told that would come in time, but it seemed like nonsense to Noxx. He figured something in the pod-breeding had caused delays to their development. The silly things couldn’t even walk yet.

By contrast, at nine months of age, a dragonet like Noxx could follow simple instructions and relieve itself outside of the lair. These Imberian whelps were forever filling their diapers. Noxx had never known something so small could create so much foul waste product.

He wrinkled his nose at the thought.

“You don’t like them?” Kade guessed, mistaking Noxx’s musing about diapers for distaste about the women.

But it amounted to the same thing.

“No,” Noxx said. “I don’t.”

“I think they’re lovely,” Tyro said, smiling down at the women.

“This isn’t a pleasure cruise, it’s an adoption meeting,” Kade said, endearing himself to Noxx.

“No reason it can’t be both,” Tyro mused.

Kade gave Tyro as big a shove as he could without waking the whelp on his own chest.

Little Atlas barked out a laugh from the safety of Tyro’s giant green arms.

“Hey,” Tyro said. “Haven’t we been on duty without female attention long enough?”

Gods, they had.

Noxx preferred not to think about it.

“We’re on a frontier moon,” Noxx said firmly. “These Terrans should be wearing boots and elevation suits.”

The light above the ramp turned blue, telling the men it was time to descend.

They moved instinctively in a v-formation with Noxx in the lead, Kade and Tyro side by side behind him.

As he strode down the ramp, Noxx took in the