Trapped by the Alien: A Scifi Alien Romance (Fated Mates of the Titan Empire Book 5)

by Tammy Walsh

  A knock came at the door.

  This time, I almost dropped the communicator.

  I shouldn’t be trusted with electronics.

  “One second!” I said.

  I accessed the communicator’s settings and switched the noise and vibration settings off. Then I shoved it back under the mattress, got to my feet, and smoothed down my dress.

  I cleared my throat.

  “Okay,” I said. “Come in!”

  The door squeaked as it opened.

  Kal stood framed in the doorway. His broad shoulders took up the entire space. And these were not small doors.

  His eyes scanned the room.

  “I heard a noise,” he said. “Are you all right?”

  Probably me practicing my pitch with the purse.

  “Fine,” I said, my throat giving out. “Fine.”

  He performed one more sweep of the room before settling on me.

  This is it, I thought. Showtime.

  I thrust one hip out and pressed a hand to it. I let the other arm hang by my side. I crossed my legs so they looked longer (apparently) and sucked in my cheeks to make my face slimmer.

  I wasn’t sure if I was meant to do all the tips at the same time but it was too late to pull out now.

  The look on his face, as they say, was priceless.

  He was too much of a gentleman to ogle me openly, so his eyes flew over me, top to bottom, and then back up again, taking everything in. Hopefully, he’d ogle me later during the party while my back was turned or I was busy talking with someone else. I might wrap the necklace around a finger as if I didn’t notice him checking me out. And then I would glance in his direction and catch him looking. He would turn away suddenly, caught in the act and, flustered, commit a pratfall or two.

  Yes, that was what I wanted.

  Oh, to hell with it.

  I decided to throw the poor guy a bone.

  I struck a pose.

  “Well?” I said. “What do you think?”

  I turned around so he could eyeball me to his heart’s content. When I returned to face him, I was pleased to find his eyes still moving over me.

  “You look—” He had to clear his throat. “Stunning. You’re stunning.”

  “You’re not too bad yourself,” I said.

  He wore a sharp suit, though the lapels looked a little nineteen eighties, and the color was an odd hue of blue. What was I expecting? Hugo Boss?

  I crossed the room and brushed a piece of non-existent lint off his shoulder. I wanted him to catch a full noseful of my perfume. I kept my hand on his chest a little too long and peered into his big beautiful purple eyes.

  “You’re very handsome,” I said.

  “I am?” he said.

  He wasn’t fishing for a compliment. He wasn’t sure what else to say.

  “Very,” I said.

  His Adam’s apple bounced as he swallowed. Then, unable to say another word, he raised his elbow and led me into the hall, across the landing, and toward the stairs.

  “You’ll have to forgive me if I’m not available much tonight,” he said. “I have no idea who my sister invited or how many will turn up. She could have invited the whole town for all I know. Although, they’re not likely to come if she did.”

  “Why wouldn’t they come to their lord’s birthday party?” I said, curious.

  He looked away, embarrassed.

  “They’re not entirely happy with my decision about surrendering,” he said. “Titans are fighters. They would rather go down fighting than wave a white flag.”

  “Your decision saved their lives,” I pointed out. “They should be happy with that.”

  “Lives filled with honor,” he said. “Not surrender.”

  Huh. Surely it was better to live than to die? No matter how much honor you had. I filed the thought away for later.

  Below us, spread out inside the main entrance hall, were a hundred Titans, maybe more. They raised their glasses.

  They were looking at us.

  Us.

  We.

  I gulped.

  “To my brother!” Emana said, standing at the foot of the stairs and leading the charge. “May he live forever in honor.”

  “In honor,” the guests said, raising their glasses to their lips.

  Kal’s grip tightened on my arm. I was supposed to be the nervous one. He was going to be leaning on me as much as I would on him tonight.

  He didn’t even want to go down the stairs. He might try to hide it behind his gorgeous purple eyes, but he was scared. Scared to face the people.

  His people.

  Because he saved their lives.

  I hated them for that.

  “Shall we?” I said.

  He blinked from whatever unpleasant thoughts tormented him and nodded.

  We descended that long set of stairs together, and the closer we got to the bottom, the firmer his grip became.

  A dozen smiling faces turned to us like hungry sharks.

  They descended.

  I turned out to be the main topic of conversation. The Titans were interested in where I came from and what I was doing there. Some looked at me with curiosity, others disdain. I couldn’t help but notice the latter were young females and might have had their eye on the lord for themselves.

  But they didn’t know the truth about our relationship. We were friends, nothing more.

  We hadn’t even kissed.

  After what felt like years, I burst through the crowd and found a pocket of emptiness beside the tables piled with food.

  “Here, this is for you,” Zes said. “You must need it.”

  He handed me a drink and I took it without even glancing at it.

  Please be alcohol.

  Across the room, surrounded by a swarm of well-wishers, Kal glanced at me and flashed me a look of helplessness.

  I smiled and raised the drink Zes handed me. I took a deep pull from it.

  It tasted like curdled milk and I had to spit the wire-like hairs out. It smelled even worse.

  Kal grinned and struggled to contain his laughter. One of the well-wishers thought he was choking and slapped him on the back.

  So much for me enjoying this moment, I thought.

  “What is this?” I said, raising the drink he’d handed me.

  “Titan ale,” Zes said. “It’ll put hairs on your chest. Oh.”

  He glanced at me, then his eyes lowered to my breasts, and then back up to my face again.

  “I don’t suppose human females have much hair on their chest… do they?” he said.

  I shrugged.

  “Some do,” I said. “Most go to the Olympics.”

  He frowned at me in confusion. I didn’t care. It was a personal joke and I liked it.

  I had no idea what time it was, but I knew I had to be cutting it pretty close.

  3 HOURS

  That had been the warning.

  “Excuse me,” I said. “I need to go to the little girl’s room.”

  I handed him the hair-producing ale back and left him with an even more confused expression on his face.

  I moved along the table piled with finger food until I reached the meat section. Most of it was big and greasy meat from animals I couldn’t even name. A couple of species might have been made extinct from this party alone.

  I found a bowl of what looked and smelled like dried bacon. I scooped up a handful and, checking to make sure no one was watching me, dumped it in my clutch purse as surreptitiously as I could.

  Then I dodged between the partiers and well-wishers to the back of the room, keeping my eyes on the deck at all times to avoid conversation.

  I passed through the doorway and turned down a long hall. I hung a right and headed directly for Kal’s study.

  I came to a stop two yards from the doorway and slowly edged closer. Niik pushed himself up onto his feet. He barely had the strength to do that much. The hair on his back stood up on end and a low growl murmured from his lips. I was beginning to learn t
hat adopting such an appearance wasn’t meant to make him look larger and more fierce. It was to make him look cuter.

  These Titan creatures were bizarre.

  “Hey there,” I said. “Guess what I’ve got for you…”

  I reached into my purse. The instant I withdrew a handful of the dried bacon, Niik immediately lost interest in making noise and instead panted at me, his long tongue almost slapping the floor.

  I had found Niik’s Achilles heel…

  This was almost too easy.

  “There you are!” someone said.

  Me and my big stupid mouth.

  I tucked my arm behind me and turned to face the voice.

  It was Emana. She handed me a mojito and slapped me on the back.

  “These are soooo good!” she said, her cheeks already flushing red.

  “Mojitos?” I said.

  “They’re yummy!” Emana said, taking another slurp. “And they’re brightly colored and so pretty!”

  I glanced back at Niik who, now that he had caught the scent of bacon, followed on our heels. He leaped up, suddenly full of energy, and licked at my hand concealing his beloved bacon.

  “I thought you didn’t have mojitos here?” I said.

  “We didn’t,” Emana said. “Not until Kal told us how to make them. He insisted we have them. It was just about the only thing he cared about with his party.”

  My hand was drenched with Niik sputum. He was beginning to drive me insane. I flicked a single piece of bacon from my clenched fist. It never even reached the floor. He must have caught it in midair.

  “Niik!” Emana said, chiding him. “It looks like he’s taken a liking to you.”

  I smiled shyly.

  “You think?” I said.

  “Go back to the study!” Emana said. “Go on!”

  Niik hung his head and meandered like he was heading for the firing range.

  “He’ll be a nuisance if he gets to the party,” Emana said. “He’ll be under everyone’s feet and trip everyone up.”

  Emana almost tripped on her own feet. She didn’t need much help in that department.

  “We need to get this carpet straightened out!” she said. “You know, I felt a little unsure about you when you first arrived but I’ve noticed the way my brother looks at you.”

  “Oh?” I said, straining to think of a way to escape.

  “He likes you. I can tell. It’s the first time he’s shown an interest in anyone since… well, it happened.”

  I sensed this was something I should pay attention to. It could explain why Kal could never bring himself to kiss me. He was never going to tell me why. Maybe his inebriated sister would.

  “What happened?” I said.

  “I’m not sure I should say,” Emana said.

  “You can trust me,” I said. “I won’t tell a soul.”

  “His wife died,” Emana blurted.

  He had a wife? So that was why he was finding it so difficult to kiss me… He wasn’t over her yet.

  Suddenly, my goal seemed a lot more difficult than I thought. He was never going to divulge his innermost secrets to me if he couldn’t get close to me, and he wasn’t going to get close to me if he couldn’t get over the memory of his wife.

  Now it made sense. He was attracted to me but didn’t feel comfortable acting on it.

  So, I wasn’t undesirable.

  “When did she die?” I said.

  Emana upended her glass and looked sad when she saw it was empty. I handed her mine.

  “Are you sure?” she said, peering at me with eyes that wished she didn’t have to ask but knew it was impolite not to do so.

  “I’m sure,” I said, itching to get back to our previous topic.

  Emana grinned at the drink and supped on it.

  “Mm,” she said. “Yellow.”

  I waited for her to answer my previous question but she appeared to have forgotten it.

  “When did she die?” I repeated.

  “Who?”

  “Your sister-in-law.”

  She squinted at me.

  “How do you know about that?” she said.

  “You just told me.”

  “Oh.” She shrugged her shoulders. “Almost two years ago.”

  Two years… It was a long time. More than enough to get used to someone not being around any longer…

  Unless it was your soulmate and you loved her with all your heart. People died of broken hearts all the time back home. Maybe Kal would have too if he wasn’t young and so much responsibility still rested on his shoulders.

  But he was ready to move on. His inviting me here proved that much. He wanted to move on, he just needed a little helpful push in the right direction.

  “How did it happen?” I said.

  “She was coming back from visiting her parents and there was a problem with the shuttle,” Emana said. “It exploded.”

  A shuttlecraft. My palms grew sweaty just thinking about it. I got airsick just hopping in the air.

  “Anyway!” Emana said, linking her arm through mine. “Come on. Let’s head back to the party!”

  Panic thundered in my chest. If we went back, I could get distracted for who knows how long. Then how would I plug the device in the computer?

  I glanced at the grandfather clock in the hallway. I had less than ten minutes left. I couldn’t go back to the party. I needed to head back.

  I pulled to a stop.

  Emana looked me over, wobbly on her feet.

  “Is everything all right?” she said.

  “Yes,” I said, scrambling for an excuse. “I, uh, just need… the bathroom.”

  “The bathroom is this way,” Emana said, leading me in the opposite direction to the study.

  No!

  “Not bathroom!” I said. “Barroom.”

  “Barroom?” Emana said. “What’s a—”

  “Uh-oh,” I said.

  “What?”

  I waved three fingers in her face.

  “How many fingers am I holding up?” I said.

  “Three,” Emana said.

  Man, she was tougher than I thought.

  “No,” I said. “I’m holding up five.”

  Emana squinted at my hand.

  “Are you sure?” she said. “I can definitely see—”

  “This is worse than I thought,” I said. “I think you’ve succumbed to mojito… itis!”

  “Mojito… itis?”

  “It’s a very serious condition,” I said. “It happens when you drink too many mojitos. You start seeing things that aren’t there. You need to go eat lots of meat. Stat!”

  “Meat? But I’m not hungry.”

  “That’s the mojitoitis talking,” I said. “Quick! Go back to the party and eat as much meat as you can! It’s the only way to save your life!”

  Emana’s bloodshot eyes fluttered.

  “Die?” she said. “I could die from mojitoitis?”

  “Definitely. But don’t worry. You’re only in the early phase. You need to act fast if you want to reverse the effects.”

  “Then why do humans drink this?” Emana said.

  I glanced at the clock. Just five minutes left.

  Gah!

  “Because it’s only when you’re close to death that you’re truly alive!” I said.

  Emana brightened up.

  She said, “We have a similar expression in Titan—”

  “That’s great!” I said, shoving her forward. “Tell me tomorrow! When you’re still alive!”

  Emana staggered down the hall, downing the last of the mojito as she went.

  “Waste not, want not,” she said, hiccupping.

  I bolted back up the hallway and glanced over my shoulder to make sure Emana had disappeared when I reached the study.

  It didn’t matter either way. I had to complete the mission!

  I felt sorry for Emana. She wouldn’t die but she was going to wish she had.

  I was almost there. Now all I had to worry about was taking care of
that damn Niik.

  The bacon worked like a charm. Niik followed me as I placed one piece after another in a long trail down the hall. Niik whined and checked over his shoulder, glancing back in the direction of the study.

  “Come on,” I said. “Just a little further… You like this dried bacon, don’t you? Well, I’ve got plenty more and it’s all got your name on it.”

  I brought my hand out. Niik whined even louder. I opened the door of a room down the hall from the study and made sure it wasn’t occupied.

  Lavish trophies, medals, and certificates adorned the walls and specially-made shelving units. I compared it to my paltry collection back home in my parents’ house.

  Most were for sports. Badminton, basketball, athletics, I excelled at them all. But the one I was most proud of, the one that I’d worked hardest for, was my bronze chess medal. I was never going to be a world-class chess champion but I didn’t need to be. I just wanted to make my parents proud and show them I had some brains and wasn’t only good at sports. That was how I met my best friend, Bianca, the uninhibited party girl.

  I shook my head at the idea of her being within a hundred yards of a chess club these days. She’d once been damn good at the ancient game. It was thanks to me she learned to socialize and party with the best of them. Sometimes I thought I might be a bad influence on her. She insisted she had a lot more fun after she met me than before, so I was pleased about that.

  Soon, we’d be hurtling through space back to our homeworld where we belonged. It all depended on me plugging this little device in Kal’s computer.

  And that depended on me convincing Niik to follow me into this room.

  “Come on,” I said to Niik. “I’ll leave the door open. Don’t worry.”

  Niik seemed to take some reassurance from that. The truth was, even if my life was on the line, there was a zero percent chance I could ever hurt an innocent animal. How dedicated was that to animal rights?

  Niik wasn’t having any of it, so I had to play my last-ditch attempt to get him to move.

  I tossed the two dozen bacon niblets across the room. They scattered and pinged against the walls and metal trophy frames.

  “Go get ‘em!” I cried.

  Niik yelped with joy and skidded on the hardwood floor as he took after the tiny pieces of meat.

  It wouldn’t take him long to collect them all. I needed to hurry.

  I backed out of the room and left the door wide open—I didn’t want him getting trapped and start barking and howling to be let out. He’d get everyone’s attention.