Bears of Burden: STERLING

by Candace Ayers

Was I that bad? Aubrey asked herself as the second door slid open.

  Zarek remained in his corner, looking up only as she approached him. His arms were wrapped around his knees. There was no trace of joy in his eyes. In fact, he looked agitated.

  “Zarek,” she asked him softly. She remained standing. “Are you okay?”

  “They are coming,” he said.

  “Who’s coming?”

  “My people. They are close. I can feel it.” Finally, he stood, his six-foot frame towering over her. She took a step back.

  “But—” she stopped herself, not knowing what to say. What could she say? That she wanted him to stay? That she wanted him to live in a cage for the rest of his life just so she could have the pleasure of being with him? No. She didn’t want that for him.

  Zarek took a step forward. Aubrey flinched.

  “Aubrey,” he whispered, looking at her. His eyes cleared as if he were seeing her for the first time since she had entered the room. She ”ried to relax as he approached her. He put his arms around her, drawing her toward him.

  “What about—” she started, paused, then started again. “What about us?”

  “I don’t know Aubrey,” he said, his cheek resting on her head. “I don’t know.”

  Aubrey clenched her eyes shut, willing herself not to cry.

  “Except,” he pulled away from her, still holding onto her shoulders. “There might be a way, but…”

  “But what?” Aubrey asked pleadingly. If there was a way she would take it.

  “My people won’t take prisoners. They will kill anyone who stands in the way of rescuing me. But, if you don’t stand in their way, if you helped me...

  “I could, perhaps, talk to them,” he continued, “Maybe there would be a way for us. I don’t know, but it is worth a try. Anything is worth a try. Aubrey, I want to be with you. Help me escape. Meet me here at midnight tomorrow night. Don’t come before then.”

  “Why?” Was he trying to trick her? Did he want to get a chance to escape before midnight, before she knew where he was going? Was he trying to escape from this building, this planet, as well as from… her?

  Aubrey thought. She had worked so hard to be here. What if Zarek did escape? What if they couldn’t be together? Worse, what if he was just using her to escape? Not only would her career be ruined, she would be ruined. She didn’t know if her spirit could survive that kind of devastation. But, what choice did she have? She couldn’t allow him to live in a cage.

  What if he was the man she thought he was? Hoped he was.

  Regardless, he deserved freedom, whether or not she had a chance of being with him outside the confines of this lab, he deserved freedom. Still, she was scared.

  “Fine,” she said, looking down.

  “What?” he asked as if he hadn’t expected her to agree.

  “I’ll do it,” she said, looking up into his eyes again. Once again, she was unsure of the thoughts his eyes held. Did he care about her? She looked down at her own body. She looked at his body. How could he?

  But what if he did? Her body tensed. She had to get out of here. She had to think without him right in front of her. She would help him, but she had to prepare herself for—for the worst.

  “You don’t believe I want to be with you, do you?” he asked her, lifting her chin up. She couldn’t look at him, though.

  “It doesn’t matter,” she answered. “I’ll help you anyway.”

  “It matters. It matters to me. I want to be with you,” he said. “I love you, Aubrey Moss.”

  As much as she had been looking forward to this moment, she couldn’t say the words back. She couldn’t let herself say the words back. She wasn’t ready to let herself believe him. Instead of speaking, she leaned up, kissed him for what might have been the last time, and turned around, exiting into the anteroom, into the control room, and up the stairs. She didn’t look back.

  Chapter Nine

  Aubrey waited, her legs shaking, her hands trembling. It was ten minutes before midnight. The fate of her life, of her love, was on the line, and all she could do was wait. She couldn’t stand it any longer. She rose from her chair in the Earth-animal lab. She walked through the extra-terrestrial creature lab, looking down into Zarek’s enclosure but seeing nothing in the spot that the circular viewing area covered. She kept moving, swiping her ID badge near the far door that led to the stairs. She swiped her ID badge again at the control-room door. Two men stood at the control panels. They were pushing buttons and turning levers.

  “Maybe it’s this one,” of the men said, reaching for a button on the side of the control panel.

  “No!” Aubrey shouted, lunging toward him to try to grab his arm.

  The men turned. Jandric grabbed her wrists as Virlek put his arm around her neck, his forearm against her windpipe.

  Aubrey choked, trying to speak. Talons began growing out of Jandic’s fingers. He raised his hand back, about to strike Aubrey across her face, about to tear her apart, ending her.

  Then, the glass doors and observation windows that led into Zarek’s enclosure shattered, the glass flying into the control room. A piece caught Aubrey’s cheek. Another piece caught Virlek’s wrist. He released his hold on Aubrey. Sirens blared.

  “Not her!” Zarek growled over the noise. He stood in front of them as he transformed back into his human. “Not her!”

  “They’ll be coming now!” Aubrey screamed, running into the enclosure, looking up at the glass so she could see upstairs. “They’re here.”

  She watched Jandric, Virlek, and Zarek transform into huge dragons, even as they exited the chamber and climbed the stairs.

  “I have the key,” she shouted, running to keep up. They let her squeeze by, but crowded past her as the upstairs lab door opened. The men finished transforming as they walked through the second door and into the large lab. She heard the pellet sounds of gunfire. She heard the woosh of fire as it escaped the dragons’ lungs. Breaking glass and clattering metal. She peeked around the door in time to see Jandric strike a soldier. The man, his face torn to shreds, fell over the metal railing, landing with a thud on top of Zarek’s enclosure. Aubrey screamed as a soldier pointed his gun up toward Zarek’s tender throat. Virlek followed her gaze, saw that his friend was in trouble, and lunged for the soldier. The soldier’s body followed his comrade’s, landing on the glass of the lower enclosure.

  The soldier hadn’t fallen before his shot hit Zarek, though. The massive dragon fell to the ground. More soldiers fired at him, though many of the bullets were deflected by Zarek’s scales. As he lost consciousness, Zarek’s body began transforming back into a man’s body. Aubrey whimpered. Jandric and Virlek tried to help their fallen friend, but they were busy struggling with their own attackers. The soldiers’ attention on Zarek seemed to fade after he transformed. Instead, the soldiers concentrated on the larger threats—the dragons.

  Aubrey lowered herself to her hands and knees and crawled to Zarek. If she could just get him through the door, he would be safe, at least for a little while. No one else in the building had authorization to pass through that door. She tugged at his foot, then his arm, but she couldn’t drag him on her own.

  “Wake up, Zarek,” she said as she shook his shoulders. She touched his face. His eyes opened. “I need your help.”

  He groaned, but began to stir. She looked down at his neck. He hadn’t been shot in the neck. The bullet had entered in his shoulder. Another had entered in his arm. She looked down. He had been shot in the leg, too.

  “We need to get you to that door,” she pointed. He nodded, pushing himself up with his healthy arm. She put his healthy arm around her shoulder, but he cried out in pain as his chest muscles tightened, tugging on the wound on his other shoulder. She cringed. “We have to hurry.”

  He nodded again, leaning against her and hobbling toward the door, gushes of blood seeping from his leg wound with every step. Finally, they got to the door. He collapsed as they exited the anteroom.

  “I’
ll be right back,” she told him, running down the stairs.

  When she came back upstairs, she found that Zarek had lost consciousness again. Beads of sweat coated his body, he felt cold and clammy. He was going into shock. She did the only thing she knew to do. She began working on his wounds, wondering what was going on in the other room, hoping the man she loved would survive his own rescue.

  It would be better to lose him to freedom, she thought, than to death.

  Chapter Ten

  As Aubrey tended to Zarek’s wounds, wiping away the blood, digging for the bullets, sewing the torn flesh back together, she realized the wounds weren’t as bad as she had thought. The bullets hadn’t penetrated deeply. The skin wasn’t torn as badly as she’d first suspected. Actually, the wounds seemed to be getting better as she tended to them.

  Must be the dragon skin and scales, she guessed as she sewed up the last hole.

  Still, his body was in shock. But, they didn’t have time for shock. There was still a war raging on the other side of the door, and even if his friends won this battle, there were sure to be military reinforcements on their way. No, none of them had time for shock. What could she do?

  Aubrey took the smelling salts out of her bag, cracked one open, and held it under Zarek’s nose.

  Zarek’s nose scrunched. His eyes open. He pushed the salts away.

  “What is that?” he asked. “That is repulsive.”

  “And that is the point,” Aubrey answered, a grin spreading across her face. “It’s smelling salts. We use them to wake people up after they have lost consciousness.”

  “Lost—” Zarek suddenly sat up, flinching as he did so. “I lost consciousness? How long? Where are Jandric and Virlek?”

  Zarek reached for his now dressing-covered wounds.

  “We’ve haven’t been in here for more than fifteen minutes or so.”

  Zarek stood. He flinched a little as he stepped on his wounded leg, but he didn’t favor it much. He touched the door with his palms, resting his cheek against the metal. He closed his eyes.

  Finally, he looked back at her. “Not good. There are so many casualties, so many wounded, so much blood.”

  Zarek shook his head. “We must get out of here. The rest of my people are waiting in Virginia.”

  “Virginia? Where in Virginia?”

  Zarek shook his head again. “I don’t know the name of the place. I can sense them, though.”

  “How did you know it’s Virginia, then?”

  “My people saw a large sign. This other place does not have a large sign.”

  “Great,” Aubrey deadpanned. “A town in Virginia without a large sign.”

  “Yes,” Zarek agreed in all seriousness.

  Aubrey knew her priority should only be getting Zarek to safety, but she couldn’t keep her own feelings entirely subdued. She didn’t want to have to say goodbye to him. She didn’t want him to leave her.

  “Zarek,” she asked softly. “What if they don’t accept me? Can’t you just stay here with me? We could go somewhere where no one would find us. We could—”

  Zarek turned to face her. He put his arms around her, pulling her to him.

  “No, we could not,” Zarek said sadly. “We could never get away from these people. We would be hunted for the rest of our lives until they found us, you know that.”

  Zarek pulled back, still holding her shoulders but now looking into her eyes. “My people will accept you. Will you come with me? Please?”

  “Yes,” she answered him in less than a second. What did she have to lose, now? Not nearly as much as she had to gain. She smiled. “Yes, I will come with you.”

  “I don’t know how we’re going to get out of here, though.” Aubrey said, pulling away from him and starting to walk towards the door. Zarek held onto her arm.

  “We must wait,” Zarek told her. “Jandric and Virlek need a little more time to clear a path for us—a half of an hour maybe.”

  Aubrey sighed. She didn’t know if she could wait that long. Adrenalin was still pumping through her veins. She’d have a hard time waiting just ten minutes. Zarek took a step toward her. He winced again when he stepped down with his wounded leg. She should check his wounds again. They would have a long ride ahead of them when they got out of here.

  “Sit down,” she told him. “I want to check the wounds again.”

  “I’m fine,” he said.

  “Please,” she replied. “I’m not good at waiting. Plus, I really should check those again, just to be sure.”

  Zarek sat, but realizing she couldn’t get to the wounds with him in that position, she nudged him down all the way. She peeled back the dressing on his leg wound. It was seeping blood, but not much, it looked as though it was healing unusually fast- by human standards, anyway. So, she just changed the gauze. She repeated the routine for his arm and shoulder. The entire process took only five minutes. They still had twenty-five minutes to wait.

  She looked down at her handiwork, but found that she couldn’t keep her eyes on the gauze. Zarek was still naked, and even though a battle raged on the other side of the door, even though she knew they would have to be ready to bolt through the lab and find a way to get to Virginia, she was suddenly and acutely aware off his perfectly-sculpted, heavily-muscled naked body. She inhaled. Reached down, she tracing his pec muscles with the tips of her fingers. She did love him, even if she hadn’t said it aloud, she hoped he could sense it.

  Zarek reached up, tucking the loose strands of her hair behind her ear. He traced the ridges of that ear. Then, he traced the lobes. He caressed the hollow behind her ear. Her eyes fluttered closed as he put his hand around the back of her neck and pulled her down toward him.

  What was she doing? Seducing him while a battle was being fought, while people were dying only yards away? Yes. Yes, she was, because what if they didn’t make it out of here? What if they died? She knew exactly how she wanted to spend the last minutes of her life. She willingly pressed her lips to his.

  He pushed the lapels of her blazer back. She shrugged her blazer off as his fingers worked to unbutton her dress shirt, exposing her bra. He leaned up, but flinched as he put weight on his shoulder.

  “Let me do the work this time,” she whispered, reaching back to unhook her bra before standing and stripping off her shoes, her pants, and her underwear. As she stood above him, she looked down at his eyes. He was hungrily watching her every movement. His amber and green eyes traced over every inch of her body as his fingers and tongue had done a few nights before. Never had she felt so desired, and she reveled in it.

  Aubrey leaned back down, running her lips, her tongue and her teeth over Zarek’s lips, then his jawline, then his neck, his chest, his abdomen. She was keenly aware that their time was limited, but she wanted to savor every inch of him. What if this was their last chance to be together? She pushed that thought from her mind, trying to concentrate on the moment- on being present for every second of pleasure with this man… dragon… beast… alien creature.

  She kissed his rippled abdomen, using her tongue to trace the v that ran down to his erection. She ran her tongue up the large vein on the underside of his length. He shuddered. His erection responded by tightening and growing even more. She took the tip in her mouth, using her tongue and cheeks to moisten it. Then, she slowly took more and more of him into her mouth, sliding up and down on his shaft each time she took him deeper. He groaned, his hips lifting, wanting more of her.

  Aubrey rose, quickly kissing her way back up to his face. She rolled on top of him, caressed his shaft with her female juices, sliding back and forth, teasingly. As she bent to kiss him again, he grasped her hips and thrust into her warm, wet channel as far as she could take him. She moaned, her insides stretching in sudden, intense pleasure. They didn’t have time to prolong the pleasure, and she was already so close to climaxing, and from the sound of his breathing, so was he. He thrust his hips up and down in controlled, firm strokes. She sat up, matching his pace, bracing her hands on
his abdomen.

  He opened his eyes, and she met his gaze. Again, she saw his pleasure, felt his pleasure. She no longer had any doubt that he wanted to be with her as much as she wanted him. She had no doubt that he wanted her to escape with him. The knowledge made her tighten even more, clutching at him, tingles shooting through her nerve endings. She slid up and down, then wiggled forward and backward. She tried to keep her eyes open. She wanted to sense his pleasure, but her own was overwhelming her. She closed her eyes, expecting the shared pleasure to disappear, but it didn’t. She could sense him without even looking at him.

  “Yes,” he said. “We can feel it without looking. You are so beautiful, my mate.”

  That was more than she could handle. The waves of pleasure turned into a bursting climax. She wanted to shout out at the intensity of it. Then, when he began to release his seed in her, she did holler, his loud groans mixing with her cries of pleasure. Even afterward, she didn’t want him to stop. He didn’t want to stop, either. He kept moving up and down.

  “We don’t have time,” she finally managed to whisper.

  “I know,” he replied, moving a few times before opening his eyes. “But we will. We will have all the time we want very soon.” His hand caressed her cheek. “I promise.”

  Chapter Eleven

  “It’s time,” Zarek said. He stood with his hands against the door. Having been reminded of Zarek’s nakedness, Aubrey had retrieved an outfit from Robert’s locker in the control room. Needless to say, the clothes did not fit Zarek well. He had barely been able to pull the pants over his bulging thigh muscles and they rose about four inches above his ankles. The shirt was entirely too tight and gaped between the buttons, occasionally sliding up to expose his bellybutton. The shoes hadn’t worked at all, so Zarek was still barefoot.

  Aubrey nodded, confirming she had heard Zarek. She scanned her ID badge in the slot near the door. When the second door slid open, it revealed a macabre scene. Bloody, torn, scorched, dead military men were slumped on the floor. Some bodies were draped over the railing. Other bodies were piled on the glass at the bottom of the opening in the center of the room.