Downfall E-Book

Alexandra Norton

• Herausgeber: Alexandra Norton
• Kategorie: Gesellschafts- und Liebesromane
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2023

Beschreibung

Seething animosity intertwines with undeniable desire within the tightest of spaces.

Tez and her silent enemy had been at each other's throats for months, trying to shoot each other from the orbit of Arvex.

She always thought of the intruder as “it” because they were taught to eschew the enemy’s humanity for as long as possible. She’d studied its flight patterns intricately… maybe a little obsessively. It was an object—a target.

But then her target sent both of them crashing to the surface of the uninhabitable planet she was meant to be guarding. Now, trapped together in the remnants of a cramped fighter craft, Tez finds herself face-to-face with her enemy for the first time.

Fear grips her, yet it's not his forceful grip on her wrists as he towers over her that sends shivers down her spine. It's the electric charge that crackles between them, immobilizing her under the weight of his penetrating gaze.

Tez has been suppressing her compulsive curiosity about who exactly was in that enemy cockpit for weeks. Now, she's faced with the real thing... And he might be her downfall.

Downfall: Enemies to Lovers Sci-Fi Romance is a steamy novella in which seething animosity intertwines with undeniable desire within the tightest of spaces.

Leseprobe

Copyright © 2023 by Alexandra Norton

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

Cover designed by MiblArt.

Edited by LY Publishing Services.

CONTENTS

Preface

1. Tez

2. Stag

3. Tez

4. Stag

5. Tez

6. Stag

7. Tez

8. Stag

9. Tez

10. Stag

11. Tez

12. Stag

13. Tez

14. Stag

15. Tez

Epilogue

PREFACE

Downfall is a standalone, steamy enemies-to-lovers novella in the Hearts With Teeth series universe. It isn’t required reading to get into the rest of the series. Instead, it serves as an action (and action ;))-packed introduction to the world and the agents at play within it.

Playlist:

https://alexandranorton.com/downfall-playlist/

Alexandra

CHAPTER1

TEZ

It was like déjà vu, this dance. She’d seen it all before out here, in the liminal space between the station she guarded and the mined-dry planet it orbited. The way the intruder strafed to port, then did a one-eighty rotation to flop onto its dorsal fin for no reason whatsoever was infuriatingly familiar. There was no point in it.

She always thought of the intruder as “it” because they were taught to eschew the enemy’s humanity for as long as possible. Of course there was a pilot in that cockpit, but Tez still made herself think of it as an object—a target to either chase away or kill. This one had bothered her frequently enough for “kill” to have become the priority. She was sick and tired of getting interrupted on her breaks to suit up and ward off the pest. But there she was again, charging her weapons from the cockpit of her Raptor after having had her breakfast cut short.

Tez rolled her eyes and opened the comms.

“Unknown vessel, leave Arvex Station Atlas territory immediately,” she started with the official script. “Or just stay very still, maybe.”

She wasn’t expecting a reply. None ever came. She was expecting the volley of laser fire from the intruder, which she dodged with practiced ease. She knew its patterns now, after months of this crap. Tez responded with a burst of fire, and she couldn’t help but let out a whoop as one of her lasers grazed her opponent’s belly.

The weirdest part about these recent attacks, aside from the fact that their motive was entirely unclear, was the ships. They looked to be a highly modded Raptor class. Not a known mod any of their systems were able to identify, though. They had giant bulbous appendages on all sides, making them look like they were covered in oversized bubble wrap. Very tempting to pop.

They had managed to destroy a couple over the last months, but never this one. This one, not-so-affectionately nicknamed Gnat by Tez and her crewmates, was the worst. Gnats were tiny flying insects on Old Earth, always lingering and difficult to swat. Apparently, they were everywhere. She wondered what had died first when Old Earth was destroyed, the gnats or the humans?

In fact, her belly-singing maneuver was the first time any of them had managed to get a hit on this particular craft. There technically wasn’t a way to identify them since the vessels transmitted no call signs, but station AI had learned to tell them apart by their approach and movement patterns. And with how often Tez sparred with this attacker, she didn’t even need the AI to pick it out of the crowd. It favored port, was wobbly on starboard, and had this meandering way of zooming around the station for no obvious purpose. But once intercepted and cornered, drawn out of its obscure flight path, it would react like an Old Earth snake, striking out with incredible precision and speed. Each time this happened, it got on her nerves a little more. She had an unnerving feeling that she was being toyed with.

Tez narrowed her eyes, watching the gash in the belly of the beast ahead. Hoping she unbalanced the pilot, Tez fired another burst.

No luck—the ship righted itself and swerved expertly out of the way.

“You’re getting sloppy,” she droned over the comms channel.

She wasn’t supposed to communicate with intruders aside from instructing them to leave. It was a violation. But what were they gonna do, take her off her shift? She was due to be sent back to home base in a week, anyway. She wouldn’t really mind getting caught and being dismissed a bit early, never having to deal with this nuisance again. Breaking a little rule for once in her Hydra Company career felt good, letting her blow off some steam over the nagging grudge she’d been building. Even the thought of such callousness made her stomach twist with discomfort, though.

“Damn—no, shit, no, darn it,” she chastised herself for the unintended string of expletives and swerved down as the mystery vessel ahead fired off its own volley of beams.

Unlike her Raptor’s weapons, which had been designed to abide by Universal atrocity specs, the intruders’ ships were retrofitted with lasers which did not dissipate at the permitted distance of three to ten miles. They just. Kept. Going. That was why Tez always had to make sure not to position herself between the intruder and the station orbiting Arvex. It likely wouldn’t be a problem; Arvex Station Atlas had shields up at all times. But she’d rather not have it hit more than necessary. Heck, her entire job was to not have it hit at all, after all.

Tez prided herself on maintaining her composure under pressure, but this thing was such a pain in her ass. She twitched the yoke up, diving out of the path of another volley, which narrowly missed her own keel.

This particular Gnat was hers to swat. She may not have managed to squash it yet, but she was the only one who could come close. She’d studied its flight patterns intricately… maybe a little obsessively. It was weaving in front of her now, back and forth, arcing its way back toward the station.

No can do, Tez thought, cutting off its path with a line of fire.

The craft was wobbling, and smoke expanded in all directions from its keel where she’d hit it. Tez turned to take aim again, but the Gnat was already retreating. She gave chase until their mandated territorial periphery, stretching fifty miles around the station. She was tempted to follow, finish the job. But that was a sure sign that she was getting distracted, the pull of victory a bit too strong to think rationally. And being too emotional in the heat of battle helped nobody.

Besides, she really wanted to finish her breakfast. She begrudgingly turned back once assured the intruder was continuing its retreat.

* * *

“Saw you hit that asshole. Good job!” Reana smacked Tez on the shoulder, clambering over the metal bench of the canteen to sit next to her. Reana gave her head a quick sideways jerk to throw her overgrown bangs out of her eyes. Those broke the dress code, risking her vision being compromised in the cockpit.

Not my business, Tez reminded herself. She shoveled a spoonful of porridge, topped with a healthy dose of nutrigel, into her mouth.

“Thanks,” Tez mumbled through the mouthful.

“Don’t know how you let it go, though. You had it for sure. If I didn’t know any better, I’d think you like this. Life on station getting a bit boring for you?”

Tez sent Reana a glare. “If you want to chase bloodlust, better dig two graves.”

“Still listening to old Yeon’s training, huh? You’re a better woman than me.” Reana sprawled her sinewy arms across the table and bent forward, resting her cheek on her inner elbows. “I can’t wait to get out of this place.”

“Same,” Tez agreed, stifling a pang of melancholy. She’d never encountered a pirate so persistent, and it sucked to think that she would never find out what they actually wanted. None of the guards knew for sure, but they all suspected the Gnat was the ringleader. It was the best pilot, anyway. They were pretty certain the group was small: they’d counted five of them. Having picked off two, there were three left.

This had been going on for months, and no matter how many reports they sent off to command, no backup came. The base contained a skeleton crew left solely for the protection of remaining equipment. It was due for full decommission and retrieval over the following week—the process had already started. Arvex itself was a husk of rock by now, all ice cracked, melted, and siphoned off. There was nothing more to mine, save for a few minuscule reserves left to hydrate the remaining staff.

One and only perk of the job: you get to have some water. It was why Tez joined up ten years back. It was why most of them applied.

Being a final guard at these mining stations was usually a relatively uneventful existence. Pirates rarely cared to attack, since the most expensive equipment had long been removed and it wasn’t like there was a bunch of water to siphon. Tez had never encountered such a persistent group. And the Gnat was the worst.

An alarm blared overhead, and Tez groaned. “Again?”

“Fuck. I’m so sick of them, Tez,” Reana moaned. “Tristan’s on shift right now, but I’m gonna go help. Maybe between the two of us, we can take down another one of these assholes.”

“Good luck.” Tez ate another mouthful of porridge, scraping her bowl dry.

* * *

Tez was scrolling through mindless documentaries about Old Earth leadership structures in her bunk that afternoon when she heard the hollering. The incompetence and lack of foresight of primitive governments were shocking in retrospect. Learning about them letting vicious aliens onto their only planet in exchange for alien tech with which to kill each other more efficiently was like watching a Raptor crash in slow motion. Insane.

“We got the assholes!”

Tez looked up. Reana and Tristan stood in the doorway with a handful of kerogel packets. Both were already looking wobbly and buddy-buddy in that way they always did when they got drunk and ended up fooling around on the floor of the shared sleeping space. The other three guard pilots followed, wedged in the doorframe behind them.

“Like, plural?” Tez asked.

Was the Gnat one of the “assholes”? Why the sudden anxious tightening in her chest? Because she had to be the one to get the Gnat. It was her target. Not personal, of course, just a challenge she’d committed to.

“Yeah, two of ‘em.” Reana tossed Tez a packet. She reacted mindlessly, catching it in one hand.

“Was—”

“Nah, your one wasn’t there. Probably too damaged after you gave the fucker a little belly scratch today. But that’s the only one left. Next time that thing shows up, we’re all goin’ out there.” Tristan’s eyes lingered on her for a moment as he sucked on his open kerogel packet. “We’re goin’ to the rec to celebrate. Coming?”

Tez raised an eyebrow. “All of you? Who’s gonna be on call?”

This was definitely against regulations.

“Chill, there’s only one left, and it’s damaged. Thanks to you. No way is it showing up again now.” Reana was already pulling Tristan by the hand out the door. He looked a little peeved for a second as she confiscated his arm to drag him along into the hall, but soon resigned himself to being manhandled.

The other pilots turned to follow, and a head of slicked-back black hair popped up over them. Peron, the brig guard, had plenty of free time these days, what with barely anyone on the station and nobody ever in the brig. He spent most days tagging along with the off-duty guards. They all found him annoying at first—the pilots usually stuck to their own—but he’d managed to grow on them. Maybe through sheer persistence alone.

“C’mon, Tez, I heard you shot one of the fuckers today. Gotta celebrate that, right?” Peron always sounded like someone was pinching his nostrils as he spoke. He’d only been at Hydra Company for a couple of years, but already had his nose broken a few times by rowdy inmates.

He had a point… Tez was always a little envious of how the others relaxed and had some actual fun toward the end of their stints. She was always the responsible one while they all went out and partied, intent on maintaining professionalism and making her way up company ranks. But those hopes were fading with each passing year as Tez had been passed up for one promotion after another.