Alien Commander's Bride Read Online Free

stay for another decade, bringing human women aboard their vast armada, to become mothers to the next Draconian generation. But war had broken out back home, and nothing was going according to plan.
     

5
    Lexi sat at her desk and wrote out a list of every possible variable involved in her situation. No matter how she arranged her lists, there seemed to be no way out. Her father’s debt, Mario’s threats, Melody’s innocence, five hundred thousand dollars. It all seemed to line up. The only solution was for her to go and sacrifice herself to the dragon that would be her husband.
    Lexi had never even wanted a husband. It hadn’t been something that crossed her mind in years. She’d been focused on pushing herself to do as well as possible in school. The only things she had ever thought of were getting out of the ghetto, protecting her sister, and making a better life for both of them.
    Now, none of that seemed to matter. All those years of hard work and struggle, for what? To be served up to an alien male, who would do God knows what with her? It all just seemed so surreal.
    She ripped the piece of paper from her pad, wadded it up, and threw it in the wastepaper basket. Today was the day she was supposed to meet the man the Draconian computers had chosen for her. She didn’t know who he was. She hadn’t been given any photographs or names. All she knew was that her online profile now had a big red slash through it that read, ‘Mated’.
    From what she understood from the website, that meant that the computers had found her a match. A Draconian and Lexi had all of the right genetic markers. The Draconians called that ‘fate’. They believed that whichever female was genetically matched with them by the computers, was their destined mate.
    Even if Lexi believed in something metaphysical like soulmates, which all the old Hollywood movies seemed to advocate, she couldn’t bring herself to believe that a computer could find you one. Still, this was the Draconian way of doing things. Nothing they did seemed to make any sense.
    She pushed her thick glasses up the bridge of her nose, and with a deep sigh, opened the door of her bedroom. She was dressed in her best outfit—a pair of jeans that weren’t faded yet, the tennis shoes that didn’t have any holes in the bottoms, and a trendy suit jacket that she’d recently purchased from the thrift store.
    Out in the living room, her father and sister were dressed equally well. They would be escorting her to the Draconian base in downtown Seattle. Butterflies smashed against the insides of her stomach. They seemed to be made of iron, and were fighting each other to the death. She wanted to throw up, but instead she smiled and showed a strong face for her little sister.
    There were still several days left before Mario’s deadline. Her father would have the money from her dowry deposited directly into his bank account. After that, it was his responsibility.
    She hoped that this time he would actually do what was right—pay off his debts, get off the drugs, and use all of his computer technology to make an actual living that he could use to support Melody as long as she needed.
    “You look nice, Lexi,” Melody said, in her sweet voice.
    Her father had taken a break from his computer to ride downtown with her, and give her away to her new husband.
    “Let’s just get this over with,” Lexi said. She had resolved herself to a lifetime of misery at the hands of an evil race of men who were bent on destroying her people and taking all of their women.
    She picked up her bag and hurried out the front door without a word, leaving all of her schoolbooks and education behind. She stood in front of the bus stop down the street from her house, without saying anything to her father or her sister. She wasn’t angry at Melody. She was very sad that she would probably never see her sister again. But, Lexi couldn’t speak. She was too overcome with raw emotion, and didn’t want anyone