Priceless Treasure

Priceless Treasure by Natalie Wish A Sci-Fi Alien Romance Copyright Copyright © 2023 Natalie Wish All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-1-913803-16-2 www.nataliewish.com Priceless Treasure featured previously in a “My Alien Lover” anthology under the name “To Shape My Love”. This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form without expressed written permission from the author; exceptions are made for brief excerpts used in published reviews. All characters and events appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real events or persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. Contents About and Content Warnings 1. Chapter One 2. Chapter Two 3. Chapter Three 4. Chapter Four 5. Epilogue More from the Author Free Book About Author About and Content Warnings Garreth will do anything to keep the broken alien he fell in love with. Even return to being a prince. A surprise meeting with an alien creature, who turns out to be a coveted Saltarian, puts Garreth on a new path. Will the relationship with the beautiful, gem-adorned alien be worth the price he has to pay? With Bellrix at his side, he is willing to fight against nature, mercenaries, the Court, and even himself. Content Warnings: This book contains explicit sex scenes and is intended for adult audiences. Warnings for the alien character getting hurt and having to heal after an accident, abusive parents, and violence. Chapter One Do you know that feeling when everything goes great, you accomplish all your goals, and your future looks bright? I could almost touch that feeling, brush it with my fingertips, feel the intangible warmth of being lucky, of having charmed the stars to light my path, of everything working out for once— Then I heard the sound of a falling tree. In some forests that wouldn’t be a cause for alarm, but on planet Alpha 138-96B, where trees were so large the locals made their homes inside of them, it was definitely a sign to start to panic. Another gigantic tree fell in the distance. And another. A furious roar split the air, making me freeze in place for one second of terror. So far, I had managed to avoid the apex predator of this little planet but judging by the rising clouds of dust and the unsettling sounds of a rampage, The Dragon, as I had dubbed this unknown species of a beast, really wanted to get a piece of me. The twenty-three languages I had learned from the royal tutors and during my travels through the Borderlands suddenly seemed insufficient to express my feelings. I used each and every one of them to swear at this deathtrap of a planet anyway. A mournful glance was all I could spare for the tools and samples scattered around my excavation site. Gritting my teeth I left the unfinished job behind, running for my life. I felt a start of a faint tremor under my feet as the beast’s heavy stomps made the ground shake. The entire forest came to live with fright, lizards scuttling for cover, birds taking flight… it was a pandemonium. That’s why, when I felt something climbing up my leg I only swatted at it, having bigger problems than one of the horned squirrels trying to take a ride on my body. But my hand hit something incredibly hard. I looked at my bruised palm and then down my leg and nearly brained myself against a tree when I stopped abruptly. Because clinging to my leg was something that looked like a shovelful of dirt encrusted with various rocks and glittering gems. “What the f—!” I shouted before I remembered being loud right now wasn’t a good idea. The tremors stilled for a moment, an eerie silence falling over the forest as if all the lifeforms held their breath. Then the trembling of the earth started again. The Dragon sensed a new prey. Thud. Thud. THUD. The creature against my leg trembled violently, and I didn’t stop it as it scampered up, hiding in the hood of my jacket. Whatever you are, better hang on tight, I thought furiously, throwing myself into a mad dash in the hope of reaching my campsite before it was too late. Fast vault over the stream. frantic scramble up a crumbling wall of black rock, a haphazard tumble down the hill and I was at my temporary base. I hastily put the shields up, wheezing hard from the run. Just as they flickered to life a hulking form appeared at the top of the hill and charged down. I screamed as the ground shook with an earthquake-like ferocity. The shield crackled with energy at the tremulous assault, surrounding me in a dome of electric charges as the furious creature rammed forward. A look towards the shielding unit had my heart in my throat. The barrier held, and the electricity seemed to daze The Dragon for a moment, but there was only thirty percent of the shield’s energy left. In short: I was fucked. I couldn’t protect myself or outrun this creature, so there was only one way of escape left: up. It wasn’t my original plan to leave the planet before I finished my mission, but at the end of the day I preferred to escape with my life even if I had to disappoint my client. It was only after I steered my small ship through the asteroid fields surrounding Alpha 138-96B, leaving the roaring form of The Dragon behind, that I remembered my life wasn’t the only one I saved today. “Good job, Garreth,” I congratulated myself for being a grade A idiot. Who knew what kind of danger I was in now, with an unknown alien aboard my ship. The little dirt creature was munching on my rock samples. Samples I was commissioned to collect. Stuff I risked my life to get from that blasted planet. The samples I won’t get paid for if they got eaten. “Don’t touch them!” I shouted, and the creature jerked away, plastering