by Trent Evans
Alisse stared at him for a long moment, her higher reasoning apparently shutting down in her fright. Then she swallowed hard, holding her throat, unable to peel her eyes away from that brilliant gaze.
“Who... are you? What do you want?”
“I am called Lukanos.”
His voice was strange, very deep, with a timbre that seemed to vibrate in her chest, the sound of his words resembling two stereo channels that weren’t completely in sync.
One thing was for sure—it wasn’t a human voice. Not in the least.
“L...Lukanos?” Her mouth was so dry her lips threatened to stick together. She cleared her throat, willing her heart rate to slow down from scared shitless to merely frantic. “Why are you in my house?”
“I’ve been watching you, Alisse.”
“How the hell do you know my name?” Her voice squeaked on the last word, her pulse now pounding like a drum in her head. She was in trouble here. Her phone was on the far side of her bed. It was time to call 911. Like yesterday.
“Need to get my coat. Freezing in here with the window...” she said, as she took a step toward the hallway, wincing at the absurdity of her words. If she could get to her room, she’d have a chance. Lock the door, call the cops. Tell him to leave while he still had time.
You think your little bedroom door’s going to stop a man as big as him?
“I do not think you want to do that, miss.”
He moved faster than she’d have ever believed possible, crossing the large kitchen in an instant, looming even larger up close, towering over her. A hand the size of a dinner plate took hold of her forearm with a power that seemed to drain the strength from her limbs. A sharp point of heat flared at the base of her neck and she looked up into his face, her lips moving silently, her vision already beginning to gray. She dropped to her knees then, his hand still gripping her.
The last thing she saw before the blackness swallowed everything up, were the fingers of his hand.
They were long, and thick, and veined.
And there were six of them.
Chapter Three
The Captain looked so enraged that, for a fleeting moment, Lukanos wondered if he might be shot.
“What has gotten into that thick head of yours, soldier? Do you realize what you’ve done?” Captain Maerata paced in front of Alisse’s house, the sun just beginning to lighten the horizon. He hadn’t even finished his transmission informing Maerata of the new... situation, before the comm line was cut.
Maerata had appeared on site in less than ten minutes, his eyes blazing with fury.
“I didn’t harm her. Gave her a dose of Verilim when she tried to contact her authorities. Seemed prudent, all things considered.”
“You mean prudent considering you’d just violated the Directive—and probably scared her half to death in the bargain.”
Lukanos glanced down at the soft, unconscious bundle of loveliness cradled in his arm. “I think I cut it down enough for her body mass. She might be a little groggy when she wakes up...”
“Command doesn’t issue us animal tranquilizers for use on humans, you dolt.”
Maerata pulled his helmet off with a hiss as the enhanced oxygen mixture escaped into the air. Maerata’s home planet had a two percent higher concentration of oxygen than that found on this world, so he preferred to replenish himself with his own supply of atmosphere from time to time. Like many Survey Team members, the Captain found prolonged continuous exposure to Terra’s slightly lower oxygen levels to be somewhat draining.
The Captain glared at him for over a minute, his jaw clenched tight, then finally he sighed. “I... should have known you’d try this. Stupid of me, really.”
“Come again, Captain?”
Of all the things he’d expected Maerata to say, that hadn’t been one of them.
“You’ve always been too interested in them, especially the females. Command has questioned more than once the reason why your survey routes have so often included these coordinates.”
“What did you tell them?”
Maerata slapped the helmet against his thigh. “Research facility.” He winced. “Not technically a lie, as she’s involved in their interferometer project. Primitive though it is.”
He couldn’t help the grin spreading across his face. He’d suspected, of course—the Captain had done far more than Lukanos had ever expected to accommodate his lieutenant’s particular... interests. He always wondered if his superior officer might harbor his own interest in the female of the human species...
Don’t push your luck.
“She’s... I couldn’t leave her, Captain. Not now.”
“And why not?”
They both knew the answer, of course. Human obsession was a known risk of survey duty on Terra. Just as they also were well aware that the Captain had been far too indulgent with his lieutenant’s case. The question in Lukanos’ mind though, was why?
“I suppose we’ve little choice. Damn you, this is going to get messy—and quickly.” Maerata fixed him with a cold glare. “You’ll be lucky if they only discharge you. I hope you realize that.”
Lukanos straightened himself, lifting his chin. “I know the punishment. I don’t care.”
“I don’t suppose I can convince you to take her back in that house and let me give her a temp block? It’ll wipe the last week or so of her long-term memory, but other than that, it won’t hurt her.”
“No, Captain. It’s too late for that.” Lukanos clutched her soft curves closer to him, his cock stirring at the way her flesh yielded to his, her plump lips yawning open, the pink of her tongue just barely visible as her head lolled gently upon his arm.
“That’s what I thought,” Maerata looked away, cursing under his breath. Then he put his helmet on, stabbing a finger at his subordinate. “You leave me little choice then, Lieutenant. Our mission is over. You’ve got thirty minutes to make it back to the ship. We’re aborting, immediately.”
“I’m sorry, sir.”
Lukanos couldn’t help the sheepishness he felt, the regret that he’d disobeyed his commanding officer. But for the lovely creature in his arms, he knew he’d do just about anything—regulations or not.
“You just get back to the ship,” Maerata barked, slapping the opaque black of his visor down over his face. “I’ve got to report this mess back to Command.”
*****
The first thing she could remember was the deep, bone-vibrating hum. It was all around her, just below the level of audible, but felt nonetheless through every molecule of her body.
She opened her eyes, then snapped them shut with a yelp, the bright, white light stabbing deep into her skull. Slowly, she cracked open one lid, then the other, the blur slowly coming into focus. Her head pounded steadily, her thoughts sluggish, synapses firing at only half speed.
“Give it time to wear off,” a deep voice said, the pitch of it seeming to harmonize with the background hum. It was familiar, but she couldn’t quite place it. “Should be clear of it in a few minutes. Then we can get a proper look at you.”
What?
Her eyes began to water as she opened them fully, the intense light still uncomfortable, but bearable. She couldn’t make out much of her surroundings save she was reclined on some sort of bench or long seat. Eyes brimming now as they burned, she brought her hand to her face—but was pulled up short.
Oh shit.
Something was wrapped snugly around her wrist.
She tried the other, yanking hard when it too proved to be bound fast. Her vision came fully into focus then, and she saw him.
Again.
Christ, this cannot be happening.
The same man she’d seen in her kitchen, the same one who’d... done something to her. Knocked her out, somehow. What had he said his name was? He was standing over her once more. This time, rather than the tunic, he wore only white trousers of the same thin fabric, the leggings so tight upon him that they outlined every inch of the massively muscled thighs—an
d the bulge of genitals the size of which made her mouth go dry.
The man smiled at her then, his deep blue eyes sparkling in the bright light. He turned his head, addressing someone behind her field of vision. “See what I told you about her tears? Beautiful.”
He wasn’t alone.
She craned her head to the left, her heart seizing in her chest. There was another one. A man? No, that didn’t seem quite right. Then she remembered the hands. His arms were crossed, one hand stroking a prominent chin, and at that moment she remembered the last thing she’d seen before passing out.
Six fucking fingers!
Though he was dressed in the same full tunic like her night visitor had worn, this one was the color of coal. This new “man” had the same hairless, uber masculine appearance, though he was slightly taller and somewhat less massively built than the shirtless man standing over her.
“I’m... not crying,” she tried to say, the words coming out as hoarse, indecipherable croaks.
“Probably a side effect from the tranquilizer, Lukanos.” Maerata scowled. “Used too much on her, damn you.”
Lukanos! That’s the name!
“T-tranquilizer? Where am I?”
What the hell is going on?
The man in black sighed loudly, then began speaking to his partner in a language she’d never heard before, the words seeming to be all short, sharp consonants and largely bereft of vowels. Lukanos glanced at her, then put his hand to the base of his own throat, speaking to the other in increasingly animated words using the same strange language.
Disoriented, she closed her eyes, trying to block out the words, the tongue they spoke sounding disturbingly... alien.
“You are all right, Alisse?”
Her eyes snapped open again, not expecting the sudden return to English. “I—I don’t know.”
“Can you stand?”
“Hard to stand when I’m tied to... whatever the hell this is.” She looked down at her bound wrists. “Is this... necessary?”
I think you have a helluva lot bigger problems than being bound to this couch, lady.
“Let’s have her up and see if she can walk,” the man in black said.
The straps around her wrists unlocked, falling away, and Lukanos knelt down next to her, picking her up with a ridiculous ease that bespoke tremendous strength.
The vibration coursed through her body as her toes touched the cool metal of the floor. “Where—where are we?”
She certainly was nowhere near home. She was certain of it, even though she had no real way of knowing.
“How do you feel now?” Lukanos’ expressive eyes sparkled as he looked down upon her.
Her head swam a little, but she gave him a tiny nod, the shakiness fading by the second.
“It’s wearing off,” the man in black muttered. “She’s stronger than she looks.”
“They all are, Captain. I’ve tried to tell you. We underestimate the humans.” Lukanos glanced at her. “I admire them.”
“What you admire are the females, Lieutenant. You forget who your partner’s been for the past two Terrans.”
Alisse swallowed hard. She wasn’t so sure what she’d just heard boded well for her. At all.
“Hard not to like that particular part of humanity.” Lukanos touched her shoulder, the huge hand wrapping softly around her.
“You admire it too much, Lieutenant—and as a result, you’ve made a terrible mess. For both of us.”
Lukanos stiffened, his hand dropping away. “I don’t care. I’ll take whatever punishment I deserve. It’s worth it, to have her.”
The man in black made a disgusted sound, waving a hand at his colleague and turning away.
“Please,” Alisse said. “Who are you? What’s going on here? I don’t—what is this place?” She scanned the large room around her, the walls appearing to be made of a featureless metallic substance, the edges at floor and ceiling rounded rather than right angles.
“Where you are, human, is nowhere, really.” The man in black spread his huge hand against the wall, then drew it down sharply. The walls immediately darkened, then seemed to fade away entirely, Alisse clapping her hand to her mouth as she let out a hoarse shout of surprise. She spun around, looking up, down. In every direction, she saw more than she’d ever have thought possible.
Stars. Billions of them.
She’d seen the galactic star field as viewed from Earth, of course. She’d even finagled a trip to Cero Paranal in Chile to get the best view of the southern sky. She still remembered the first time she laid eyes on the hauntingly beautiful Southern Cross.
That was nothing though. Her colleagues back home would be shitting themselves at the view she had now.
Except... these weren’t the same stars. There were far too many, in every direction she looked. The constellations were all wrong too. No, they weren’t just wrong—they were gone. In their place a sea of stars as foreign to her as a person seeing the sky for the very first time.
“I don’t... I don’t understand.”
Yes, you do. It means it’s all true.
“Not really nowhere, precisely,” the man in black said, looking back at both of them. “Rather, en route as some of your species like to say. We transited the Sol gate just before you woke up. We should be arriving at the rendezvous in moments, actually.”
“Rendezvous?” Darkness flitted across Lukanos’ pure blue eyes for a moment, gone as fast as it appeared. “We’re not transferring to base?”
“We’ve been ordered to divert to Command One.”
Lukanos quirked a dark eyebrow. “Command One?”
The man in black turned back to them, a sweep of his hand making the dazzling star field view fade away to featureless metallic white walls once more. “You didn’t think your defiance of our laws—and our sacred oath—was going to go unnoticed, did you?”
Lukanos tensed ever so slightly. “It would have—if you hadn’t reported it to Command.”
A hint of extreme weariness snuck into the Captain’s otherwise cool gaze. “You know I had no choice.”
They stared each other down for a moment, Alisse suddenly sure that despite their utter lack of speech, something was passing between the two giant men, their jaws tight, eyes glinting.
“What’s happening?” Though it felt absurd, the urge to draw closer to the massive, musclebound Lukanos was overwhelming. He was the one thing remotely familiar in this crazy situation. As if sensing her need, his huge arm slipped around her waist, the palm spreading proprietorially upon her hip, pulling her against his side. His flesh felt as hard and immovable as a great tree, and if only for a moment, she found solace in that fleeting sense of protection.
Yes, protectiveness... from the man who kidnapped you.
She’d have to mull that over some other time though. Something was about to happen, and instinctively, she knew it posed possible danger to her.
He smiled down at her, a fondness in his gaze that both made her shiver and elicited a strange stirring deep in her belly.
Oh no...
Suddenly, she realized both of the hulking males were staring at her.
“Get her strapped back in, Lieutenant. We’re docking with Command 1 in ten minutes.”
“Why, Captain? We haven’t even inspected her yet...”
“Admiral Kosha wants to see her.” Maerata scowled at his lieutenant. “And figure out what in space to do with a certain Directive-violating soldier.”
Chapter Four
Admiral Kosha paced before them, both he and the Captain standing at attention. It was usually an auspicious event to meet a fleet command officer in person, but Lukanos knew this moment was anything but auspicious. This was potentially disastrous.
Older than both of them, with shoulders no longer quite so broad, eyes a trifle less bright, Kosha was still a powerful man. And he had the ability to open innumerable doors—or crush a career with a single order.
Behind the pacing senior officer, Alisse looked on
from her perch, bound fast, her legs drawn up, the robe she wore riding up to expose the paleness of her lower legs. Her eyes were wide as they studied them, following the Admiral’s every movement. If anything, she was even more alluring in her fear. She was a smart one, for a human, and that intellect only fired Lukanos’ desire higher. He’d read some of the accounts written by other Yaanfahr who’d clandestinely taken humans, and the pleasure to be had in taming those keen minds, those strong wills was almost as sweet as their enjoyment of the lush, soft curves so admired in human females. Alisse was blessed with more than her share of curves, her physical beauty holding a power to him he couldn’t quite understand. Perhaps it was the difference in their species, that otherness that attracted him?
Perhaps you’re just depraved.
Depravity wasn’t unknown in Yaanfahr society, and it was accepted as a natural variation, but that didn’t keep it from being largely suppressed, especially in the military corps.
Alisse struggled briefly in the restraints holding her firm to the grav couch. Lukanos had much better—and more elaborate—restraints at home. And he intended for her to experience every one.
First, he had to get her home.
Kosha stopped before them, crossing his hands behind his back, his dark, heavy fleet officer’s coat so long it brushed against the floor at his feet. He fixed them both in turn with gray, flinty eyes.
“I hand pick all of the Survey Teams. I’ve been doing it for more than fifty cycles, and I’ve usually made sound choices.”
Lukanos opened his mouth, but the Admiral gave him a sharp shake of his head, silencing him.