“Make me feel something, Thane. Please…” I begged, the words so easily falling from my lips. I was never needy, I hadn’t ever been allowed to be. But right now, I longed to feel his touch. I needed to feel his skin on mine, to wrap my arms tightly around him, to feel him consume me. To feel he was real, that they all were real. To remind myself I wasn’t all alone in the world even though it felt like it in that moment.
He scooped me up in his arms, carrying me to the room upstairs where I was glad to see there actually were no trees, setting me down on my feet beside the bed. He took my face in his hands, his beautiful blue eyes penetrating deep into my soul. I moaned in response to his feverish kiss, my body pulsing from the onslaught, my hands taking him in thankful ownership, working their way around his waist, up the sculpted form of his back and shoulders.
His fingers slid into the hair at my nape and pulled tight, cocking my head back roughly to force my gaze. “You’re not alone, Ella.” He paused, his eyes searching mine. “Don’t. Ever. Fucking. Leave us. We’ll find you every time. Do you understand?”
“Yes. Please…”
His mouth crashed back to mine, desperate orders spewed into our kiss… “You’ll stay. You’ll never leave. You’re mine, Ella.”
His large body overtook me, forcing me onto the bed. The sight of him crawling over the top of me sent my pulse racing in anticipation. The feel of his weight was intoxicating as he lowered his lips passionately to mine. I relished in the strength of his body, running my hands along his form, needing to feel all of him. My fingers squeezed and clawed at every perfectly defined muscle. My head screamed to push him away, to hate him, but at the same time, I longed for him. I yearned to forget the shitstorm I’d found myself in, or maybe something was really wrong with me since I couldn’t help myself around these Vepar.
Our kiss was hectic, intense. We consumed each other, reaching to the deepest recesses of our mouths, the need to brand each other mutual. Heated, our fingers working in a desperate urgency to touch. Our clothes came off in a whirlwind of hands, tugging and ripping each other’s shirts off, before moving to discard our pants. I gasped as he slowly, teasingly slid his hands up my legs, tearing my underwear from my body, eliciting my slight scream.
My gaze darted back to his, and I whimpered at the burning heat emanating from his stare as he slid his muscled form over the top of me, resuming his passionate kisses. Kisses that worked their way down my trembling body, pausing at my chest, my belly button, to tantalize every inch of my skin with savoring licks of his devouring lips and tongue.
“Thane,” I moaned as he spread my legs with a firm pull, my whole body clenching in anticipation of his sinful mouth, but desperate for him to fill it at the same time.
“You’re so beautiful,” he whispered, kissing my thighs, teasing me with his tongue. “It’s like you were made for us. Such a delicate, perfect little human,” he sighed out. His words only heightened the sensations that I already drowned in. I needed to hear words like this.
My body bowed to his delicious mercy, and I panted as he continued his ministrations. I grabbed his hair, moaning with every touch. I pulled and urged the return of his lips to mine, missing the feel of them against mine. Everything he did felt out of this world, different but just as good as my night with Derrial. I wondered if it could be like this with any experienced men or were the Vepar just particularly good in bed?
Kissing was incredible, but I needed him inside of me. I pulled him closer to me, trying to signal what I wanted without breaking contact with him. Finally he moved to settle between my legs, his heat scorching hot against my sex.
“You’re sure about this?” he asked me, sounding almost like he was in pain as he paused above me.
“Isn’t it obvious?” I clasped his face and resumed our frenzied kiss. When he finally thrusted inside of me, our simultaneous moans echoed through the tangle of our lips. He felt euphoric, like he was always meant to be a part of me. Like I’ve been missing him my entire life.
He glided in and out with precision, his gaze never straying from mine. I was mesmerized by the intensity of the moment. I’d been so full of anger when I was with Darrial. Would it have been like this if I had let myself feel something?
“Is this real?” I whispered as an unwelcome tear slid down my face.
He thrust inside me one more time before responding, watching the tear’s descent. “This is the realest thing I’ve ever felt,” he finally answered in a gruff voice that almost sounded as if he was choked up. His words consumed me, and he continued to move in and out of me.
The strength of our connection was to die for, every nerve inside of me awakened at his touch. I bowed uncontrollably, moving in helpless abandonment as the pleasure heightened. Seated fully, he stilled, and lifted his head to stare into my eyes. His blue gaze searched mine. I was speechless. Breathless. The pure emotion reflected in his stare had me sucking in air. There was something there between us, something I couldn’t put into words, but I realized I wanted to hear it desperately. We stared at one another for what felt like an eternity until he finally closed his eyes, breaking the moment. When he opened them again, the words were gone.
He brushed his fingers along my forehead, pushing the strands of hair away. His lips started to move, and I pulled his lips back to mine before he could speak. Our bodies said what our lips couldn’t. I mewled into his kiss as his thrusts grew faster. My hips met his thrusts, measure for measure, needing him so deep inside me I wasn’t sure I’d survive otherwise. We were frenetic in our need for each other, desperate, unable to pull away.
He drew his lips from mine, and instead, he took mock bites out of my flesh across my collarbone. His hand slid beneath my back, pulling me closer. I arched my body towards him, my head falling backward as his lips continued to move down my body.
“Fall for me,” he whispered, and his words are my undoing. The sexy timber of his voice combined with the steady tempo of his thrusts sent me plummeting over the precipice. Screaming his name, I slid my hands in his hair, gripping hard, riding the overwhelming waves of pleasure, convulsing uncontrollably. His thrusts pounded relentlessly as I rode the ebbs and flows, in and out, deeper and deeper into my clutching depths, before he finally stilled above me. He gave a delicious groan as he peppered my face and neck with kisses.
Harsh breaths amid the grasp of each other’s arms, we awaited the slowing of our rapid heartbeats in euphoric silence. Sliding out of me, he chuckled at my elicited whimper, turning to his side on the mattress, pulling me with him.
“I’m not done with you yet, sweetheart,” he warned playfully, running his fingers gently along my sweat-slickened back.
“I hope you’ll never be,” I admitted shyly.
His eyes widened at my admission, and I worried for a second, I’d said too much.
“Good,” he replied, giving me a sexy grin. He wrapped me in his arms, lifting me up with ease, moving to stand. “Time for a shower.” He smirked, as he carried me to the bathroom, holding me in one strong arm, and leaning in to turn it on.
“Thank you for saving me,” I whispered to him as the steam from the hot water began to envelop us, making me feel as if we were in our own little world and the outside world and all of its problems didn’t exist.
“Always,” he answered.
It was a long, long time before we said anything else.
I was alone when I woke up, the house perfectly still around me. I shuddered at the feeling of being alone, my feelings unreasonably hurt at the fact that Thane had left me after the night we’d shared.
Getting out of bed, I wandered to the window. It was a dreary day, so cloudy that it looked later than it actually was. With my stomach rumbling, I pulled on the only pair of sweats in my closet and wandered downstairs, and through the rooms on my way to the kitchen.
I searched for a sign of Thane or of corran but they weren’t around. I finally made it to the kitchen, also deserted. Opening the fridge, the first thing I noticed was the bowl of blueberries. It had only been a few days since I fell in a pile of blueberries, getting choked by Thane. My how things had changed. Maybe something was wrong with me? I’d adjusted so quickly to everything...had even slept with two of them after being terrorized by them for weeks. Thane had literally choked me right outside this kitchen. And here I was, casually eating breakfast instead of trying to get away like any normal girl. Was I so desperate for affection of any kind that I had latched on to the first sign of it? This was literally the species that I believed was responsible for my parent’s disappearance.
My appetite had disappeared with my morose thoughts, so I closed the refrigerator and wandered into the other rooms in the house. I decided to explore the house a bit more to get my mind off things. I could wonder if I was sick in the head at some other point. After yesterday I needed a day off.
I walked through the rooms, stopping to admire the expensive artwork on the walls. I’d been in a hurry to find an exit the last time I had explored the house and I hadn’t had time to admire the fact that there was a movie theater and workout room that was the size of the gym that I attended near home.
I was strolling through the library filled with more books than I had ever seen in one place, and was about to leave, when I noticed a section of the wall that looked like it stuck out farther than everywhere else.
Walking over I realized that the wall seemed to be sticking out farther because it was some kind of disguised door, and it had been left open. Peeking through the crack I spied a steep staircase leading to an open area. I opened the door a little wider and listened for a moment, trying to see if I could hear any voices coming from down below. I couldn’t hear anything. Ignoring the voice in my head that said I should leave it alone; I opened the door wider and started to descend. I paused every couple of steps to see if I could hear anything, and then would continue on when everything remained silent. I had been searching for a reason for their arrival, so maybe I’d finally stumbled across the answer. Excitement tangled in my gut, layered with fear over getting caught.
When I reached the bottom of the steps, I stared around in amazement. Out of everything that I had seen related to the Vepar, this room was the most “out of this world” yet. Sleek, silver tables were set up with hologram images projecting out of them. There was one table that displayed what looked like about 100 different screens showing different parts of the world. Another table had a hologram screen with thousands of numbers scrolling down. I examined the 100 plus images for a moment trying to see if there was anything familiar looking, but I couldn’t recognize anything.
Skipping the numbers for now I walked over to the left wall which was made up of an enclosed glass bookcase showcasing various specimens in every chamber. I gasped in amazement at some of the creatures that must have been from their planet. A black, spider with twelve legs instead of eight. It was easily three times the size of a tarantula, and I shivered as I watched it eat a mouse whole. There was some kind of purple creature with four eyes, reminding me of the embodiment of the Furby toy that had been popular when I was a child.
There were also things that were recognizable and left me shivering. In one chamber sat a human heart… Still beating. In another one was an organ that I was pretty sure were female ovaries. And in another one was a human embryo.
Sickness rose through me, so I finally backed away and headed over to the hologram with all the numbers. There were thousands of digits on the screen, but only two columns fully caught my attention. One said Vepar Female and one said Human Female. The numbers were changing rapidly on the human column. What was it counting? Deaths? Or women attending gyms. I almost laughed at how stupid that sounded. What if it was somehow tracking every birth and death? The Vepar column was barely changing with almost no deaths and no births at all.
I tried to think what they would need such information for. Looking through the other columns I found no columns for males.
“What are you doing in here?” barked an angry sounding Corran from behind me.
My heart skipped in my chest, and I twirled around to see him at the base of the stairs, a red tinge to his very handsome cheeks.
“I was just exploring the house and the door was open,” I tried to explain, my voice shaking.
“You shouldn’t be down here,” he snapped. “Did you touch anything?”
“No, I just looked,” I answered, my hands trembling at how angry he sounded. Corran had always only sounded interested or mild-mannered. I hardly recognized the seething Vepar in front of me.
“I’m sorry,” I started to say, but he was already pointing to the stairs.
“Get out of here,” he yelled, and I didn’t waste a second more trying to apologize. I flew up the stairs with tears in my eyes.
I ran into Thane at the top of the stairs. “What were you doing down there?” he demanded.
“I’ve already been yelled at enough; I don’t need you to chime in. I’d almost forgotten I was a prisoner in this place, but I won’t be forgetting again,” I told him, flying by before he could grab my arm. I ran to my bedroom and slammed the door, wishing there was a way to lock the door from the inside.
Ten minutes ticked by as I pouted on the bed, my mind racing with what had been in that room and the look in Corran’s eyes when he’d seen me down there. Why didn’t they want me to see whatever those things were measuring?
A knock sounded on my door, startling me from my musings since I hadn’t heard anyone climbing the stairs. “Can I come in?” asked Corran through the door.
“No,” I belligerently said, knowing that I was acting like a two-year-old even as I said it. He opened the door anyway. I didn’t expect anything less because from the beginning the Vepar had done whatever they wanted.
“I’m pretty sure I told you not to come in,” I said as he stood at the foot of my bed. I was pleased to see he looked a bit scared of me...and slightly ashamed.
“I came to apologize,” he said, fiddling with the bottom of his shirt in a decidedly human gesture.
I continued my childish behavior by not saying anything and just staring at him stonily.
“I’m sort of a rarity on Vepar,” he continued, when he saw that I wasn’t going to say anything. “Our scientists have for the most part been able to eradicate any abnormalities or disorders that used to be present in the Vepar genetic line. My parents were Vepar that were a part of the last nomadic clan though, so they hadn’t been subject to any of the genetic cleansing like the rest of the population. I have a disorder most similar to your human Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. When I saw you down there, all I could think about was that you had touched something, and it was out of the order I kept it in.” He took a deep breath and looked at me beseechingly, “I had no intention of scaring you, Ella.”
Sorrow flooded his gaze as he stood there, and my anger ebbed. I remembered a classmate in high school who’d suffered from OCD. He couldn’t walk out of a room without tapping the side of the door three times and he had to walk three steps behind someone at all times if he was walking in the hallway. He’d been the nicest guy, and I remember how much it bothered him to have all these things to do to stay sane. If Corran’s mental issues were anything similar to that, I wasn’t surprised he grew so mad when he found me down there.
“I really am sorry for going into the room. My parents always used to tell me I was too curious for my own good.” I smiled, feeling a momentary pang at the thought of my parents. For a second, I was tempted to ask if he knew anything about their disappearance, but I pushed the thought away. I hadn’t seen any sign that they were in the business of kidnapping older humans...only ones they seemed to be sexually attracted to.
Anyway, I did feel like I had the right to ask what was going on in that room. Everything about the gadgets was strange...including the fact that they might be tracking human and Vepar females.
“So, the hologram that I was looking at down there... It looked like it was recording births and deaths of human females,” I asked hesitantly, watching Corran carefully to gauge his reaction.
He sighed and sat down on the bed, turning his face away from me as he gazed out the window. “We came to this planet because our planet is dying and killing off our females in the process. Doesn’t help that Khonsu have killed so many of our females as well. We’ve spent hundreds of years searching space to find a planet that would be similar enough to Vepar for us to relocate. We’d heard about Earth, but we also learned that females were in danger here. Part of my job on the planet was to monitor Earth to ensure the same thing happening to our females is not replicated here.”
“How does the planet dying affect your females?” I asked, my eyes widened with everything he was saying.
He sighed. It was a heavy sigh filled with frustration. “We’re not quite sure. But since the only connection we have to the Vepar woman dying is our planet also dying, we decided that we needed to find other options.”
“Other options like finding new planets to inhabit?” I asked, dread growing inside of me.
He nodded.
I looked at him amazed that he’d so casually told me their plan. Up to now they’d been firm with the message that they were here in peace. But obviously that was all a lie.
He must have seen the growing panic in my face because his eyes widened, and he threw up his hands as if to calm me down. “We’re not planning to takeover. We want to share the planet. All of the rules that have been put in place have been to help sustain the planet and make life better in preparation for the Vepar arrival.”
I studied his face. He seemed to be telling the truth but Corran had always seemed to have that air of trustworthiness about him from the beginning. For all I knew, he could have been the best liar out of all of them.
“You had no problem taking me without my permission, and you’ve pretty much taken over Earth,” I said bitterly. “Why should I believe that you wouldn’t do something else?”
He pursed his lips in frustration before checking his watch. “I have to leave right now on a short expedition I’ve had planned for months, and I’d like you to come with me. We can talk more on the trip. I’m sure you’d like to get out of the house too.”
Corran and I hadn’t had the time together that I had experienced with the others. It still felt awkward between us, and the thought of going somewhere with him made me feel more awkward than anything. But I did want to find out more about the Vepar’s plans and he seemed to be much more willing to provide me with information than Derrial or Thane were. So, I might be able to uncover more secrets, maybe even if my parents’ disappearance had anything to do with them. I decided to go.
Corran was already pulling me behind him before I had even said yes. Evidently the scientist was just as pushy as the others. Before I knew it, I’d found myself standing next to the helicopter pad that had housed the helicopter I’d flown in with Derrial. The helicopter evidently was being used however as the pad stood empty. I looked at Corran quizzically, wondering what we were waiting for, but he was oblivious to my look. He took out a silver contraption that looked like a car fob and pressed a button.
Suddenly, the pad seemed to dissolve and a sleek silver machine that resembled a cross between a car and a small airplane came up on a pedestal like a scene out of Batman. I gasped in amazement, but Corran, unperturbed as always, gave me no explanation as he began pulling me towards the machine. As we approached the contraption, an entryway appeared in the side of the machine and a set of stairs appeared out of nowhere. I stopped abruptly.
“What is this thing?” I asked, needing answers before I got into the machine.
Corran looked at me confused. “Isn’t it obvious? This is how we travel. I guess you could say it’s our version of an airplane if you had to label it, but the term really doesn’t do it justice since it can travel through any terrain including water.”
I stared at him incredulously, then the machine. “Wow.”
He began to ascend the steps, and then looked at me with a raised eyebrow when I didn’t follow him. I was still in shock about the fact that I was about to travel in an alien spacecraft.
“We’re on a schedule,” he said impatiently, jarring me from my thoughts. I tentatively followed him up the steps, stopping on each one to make sure that they didn’t disappear. Once inside I couldn’t help but freeze again.
Everything was black as if I’d crawled inside a licorice jelly bean. The walls, ceiling, seats, and even the controls. Light drenched the inside of the shuttle, and the sleek walls glimmered under the right illumination. No other windows lined the rectangular ship.
Corran took the single seat in the front with the controls, and I slid into one of two available in the back. Buckling up, I couldn’t believe where I was, and what I’d give right now to have my phone to snap photos. I was pretty sure if I shared them, my social followers would leap from a measly thirty to millions.
Anyone who shared images revealing anything about the Vepar went viral because they were so secretive. If only people knew something more dangerous lingered amid them. The Khonsu. Then again, maybe that would just cause unnecessary panic because everyone would be safe unless they were compatible like me. Lucky me.
My thoughts turned to the bomb Corran had dropped on me about their race looking for a new home. That information was massive and could easily end up with us going to war with them because the rest of the planet coming here would be construed as a complete take over. I didn’t know what to do with such knowledge as it was still processing in my head on what it meant. I mean I knew what it meant, but the situation seemed delicate and I could sympathize with them wanting to save their race. Plus, I didn’t want to cause a universal war when I didn’t understand all the facts myself, especially when I was pretty sure that humans didn’t have a chance against the Vepar technology.
I sucked in a deep breath to calm myself.
“You ready?” Corran glanced over his shoulder at me, his eyes alive, clear he was in his element right here.
“Let’s do this before I change my mind.” I laughed, but it wasn’t a lie either.
A light vibration buzzed under my feet, followed by a brittle silence, but we lifted into the air with such ease and swiftness that I barely felt it. When we finally took off, the vessel moved as if there was no sound, no wind, and it didn’t even disturb the air. We glided seamlessly through the air, and my earlier worries faded, replaced by a tingling excitement. My knees bounced and I gawked outside, wanting to stand near Corran to see everything, but I didn’t dare move.
Unlike Derrial, who’d talked my ear off during the whole flight on the helicopter, Corran didn’t say a word. Instead, he spent the entire time on a tablet that would have looked like an iPad if it weren’t for the fact that it projected holographic, 3D images much like the tables in that secret room. Numbers and charts all detecting what looked like other aircrafts.
We traveled for twenty minutes before the machine started to drop smoothly out of the sky. My stomach lurched to my throat, and I clutched my seat belt, surprised how fast we’d arrived, but then again, I suspected we traveled quicker than planes.
When we landed, all I could see out the front window was darkness and the bright starry sky as far as the eye could see. Where in the world were we?
The front door opened with a rush of hot air, hissing in the process. And before us stood a mountain covered with tropical looking trees. This didn’t look like anywhere near home.
I hopped out and Corran followed behind me.
“Where are we?”
He took my hand and drew me closer to the mountain. “We’re at the edge of a crater.”
“Wait!” I pulled against his hand. “Like in a volcano?” It did feel hotter here, the heat so intense it was singeing my skin.
He smiled and moved closer, cupping my face. With a kiss that shocked me, he whispered, “Would you have preferred if I took you to a beach?”
I shrugged and nodded. “Actually yes.”
“Well, we might have time after this. We are in Honolulu.”
My feet froze, eyes growing. “Are you kidding me? I’ve always wanted to go to Hawaii. I could have brought my swimsuit.”
He broke into a laugh, the sound so soft and sweet that I ate it up. I adored the way he laughed. “Then we better hurry up and get this job done.”