“Too big,” she ran her hand over her body to emphasize what she meant.
“You’re beautiful with your grey eyes and your black hair along with those kissable lips, but you’re more than your face. You have a gorgeous body that is full of beautiful curves that I would love to touch.”
She blushed as she imagined his hands sweeping over her curves, appreciating them.
“Thank you, that’s the nicest thing anyone has said to me in a long time.”
“No thank you is needed. I was only speaking the truth.” He slowly moved into her space holding her eyes.
Her breath caught in her throat. He was going to kiss her; she was ready to feel his lips. You don’t know him. She stopped her mind cold. Sometimes you need to do something you wouldn’t normally do, besides she argued, he wasn’t really a stranger anymore.
There was pain in her side as if she had been hit by something hard. It knocked her to her knees making her pant and bringing her back to the reality that she was being hunted. What was she doing standing here like she was free to feel Gabe’s lips on hers?
“Get down,” she screamed, tugging at his pant legs.
He vaulted over the side of the Gazebo moving toward the woods.
“Gabe no, he’ll kill you.” She called out as she watched him disappear into the trees in the direction the strike had come from.
What had hit her? She pulled up her shirt to see a bloody blackened wound in her side. Something had struck her, but it was no longer there. Her eyes scanned the area around her unable to find the weapon. She took a deep breath before she allowed her fingers to explore the wound; it was roughly an inch wide and didn’t seem too deep. She would live, this time.
“Whoever it was is gone.” Gabe came back to kneel at her side.
He moved her fingers and checked her wound. “It’s superficial. I can fix you up at the house. Who’s after you, Taya?”
She looked at him fear deep in her eyes, “I don’t know.”
Chapter Four
Taya was sitting on the side of the bed while Gabe bent over her tending the wound. He had washed it out carefully, then placed a suave on it that he swore would keep it from getting infected and now he was bandaging her up.
“I’ll be cleared out in ten minutes. Sorry for bringing something like this down on you and your family.”
“My family and I have lived through much worse. Why don’t you tell me what’s happening and how you got to Newburg?”
She wasn’t sure what this place had to do with it, but after what happened she owed him the truth. Would he laugh when she was done?
“It started about a year and half ago. I can remember the exact day I woke up and felt different inside. Silly me, I thought it was a good thing, like maybe everything was finally coming together for me. Ever feel like you were a stranger in your own body? That’s how I felt all my life but not that day. It was a good day to be alive. I remember singing in the shower and I never do that.
“I hopped into my car and drove to my favorite coffee shop. I was never good without a steaming cup of preferably white mocha with a dash of raspberry and a breakfast sandwich. That’s when things got weird. I walked in and looked at some of the same people I saw every day but they didn’t look the same anymore. Some looked like monsters where others looked like they could be animals. I almost lost it but then I realized I must be delusional and it would past, but it never did.
“I even went to a shrink who gave me medicine that never helped. I was losing it and then one day by chance I turned a corner and saw the most repulsive thing ever. Some woman was fawning all over this monster. It was the last thing my mind could take. I screamed and began to throw up before I ran off. I could still see it licking its lips and telling me I would be his.”
Her breathing came in deep pants as she closed her eyes rubbing them trying to disrupt the memory.
“From there it was easy. I eventually left my job as it kept coming after me, teasing me like I was a mouse in its trap. I went to the greyhound station leaving my car because I thought I would be harder to track this way. I picked the first bus going far, far away. Turns out there was a bus coming to Newburg, Pa. I’ve never heard of this place so I bought a ticket, waited for the bus, and here I am.
“I’ve been here for roughly a year living on my savings. I’ve taken a few jobs but something stupid, strange or weird has happened at each of them and I lost them. As far as the places I’ve lived, they’ve all been a hole in the wall. Nothing near as nice as this and still I’ve managed to get kicked out of all of them. Now I bring my problems here.”
“Did the monster chasing you look like he was floating on air with a head full of eyes?”
“Yes!” She jumped up to look at him. “How did you know?”
“It’s a Sudir, my people are at war with them.”
“A Sudir? Your people? You mean humans?”
“The Sudir are an alien race that followed my people to Earth after they destroyed our planet. Not all of the Sudir’s came, only the ones that mutated and now look like what I described to you.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Let’s start with you. If you’re wondering, you are human—just a little advanced. You’re one of the few humans who can mate with my people. You have a natural power within you that can fight the Sudir but it also attracts the Sudir. They would use you as a source of nutrition.”
“Great, I’m alien snack food.”
His mouth quirked up as she fell on the bed her arms all akimbo.
“Please don’t stop, tell me more.”
“They are also able to use my people and have in the past. Not something I recommend. They’re hard to kill and almost unstoppable but we have been stopping them one at a time. So it would be foolish to run. I assure you we are your best chance of fighting them.”
“This…this Sudir, it wants to kill me then eat me?”
“Sorry, it’s nothing that nice. He wants to hold you captive, draining your natural power from you every day. He would use you in any way he desires.”
“How do I get away?”
“You don’t, now that a spark has been lit within you, a Sudir or something nastier will find you. The only chance you have is to stand and fight with others who can help you. Those others would be me as well as the people you met here tonight.”
She sat up and looked into his eyes. He wasn’t lying at least from what she could tell. She got up and went to the window on the far wall and looked into the night. Her reasons for running from Nevada were all about her parents. She couldn’t even think about them being hurt; it messed up her insides. So she ran.
This wasn’t about her parents anymore, it was about the rest of her life and she was tired of running. So instead she would stand firm and learn how to fight the monsters that went bump in the night. Now all she needed was a cool name like Sudir slayer. Nah not cool enough, she’d work on it later.
“All right.” She turned around to look at him. “I’ll stay and fight and hopefully I won’t become a Happy Meal.”
“If you did, I’m sure you’d be the best tasting one.”
She smiled, her heart beating just a bit faster at the off handed compliment. It had been a long time since those came her way. Too much work and running from alien killers.
“Thank you for being willing to help. Are you sure everyone else will be okay with it?”
“I’m sure, but we can tell them what’s happening tomorrow at breakfast.”
She nodded and walked him to the door. “Goodnight, Gabe.”
“Taya, I shouldn’t be doing this.”
He leaned over and placed his lips on hers gently. When she didn’t push him away, he licked at her closed lips until she opened them. Taking his tongue, he pushed into her mouth caressing hers. A gentle sweet kiss bound them together before he broke it off and slipped out the door.
Taya closed the door and walked into the bedroom. She finally had some answers but they were just bringing
up more questions.
*~*~*~*
Rylan was leaning against his door when he got there. Gabe gave a rueful shake of his head; he wasn’t surprised to see his brother.
“She’s the one,” Rylan stated as he followed Gabe into his room.
“Isn’t that for me to decide?”
Gabe took a seat on one end of the couch and his brother took up the other half.
He looked at Rylan; they were twins down to the minute detail. Even now, after being apart for a while, their hair was the same length in the same style. Someone looking at them might come to the erroneous conclusion that they were interchangeable.
In this case, the package didn’t hint at what was inside. They were different long before Rylan was captured by a Sudir named Xolon. Their mother had known. She saw them and always knew them apart even when they were babies. It was one of the fondest and earliest memories he had. His mother walking into a room after he and Rylan had a tussle, she had walked over to him and picked him up saying his name and kissing him on his head before she walked over to Rylan and did the same.
No matter how they tried they couldn’t fool her. Now there was another woman who saw them differently. First Aviana and now Taya, but did that mean she was his soul-bond. Just because a woman didn’t get you confused with your brother was no reason to run to the trials to see if you were compatible.
There was that kiss. He didn’t know if that was a negative or a positive. It was sweet and he felt it through his body, but it wasn’t explosive. Wasn’t he supposed to see fireworks?
“Only you can decide what’s right for you, Gabe. Just don’t forget being a twin and being able to talk to each other goes both ways. I feel what’s inside of you. The hunger and the dark yawning chasm that seems to grow bigger. I feel it in your soul and I know you need to find your soul-bond before you slip away.”
“How can I slip away with you beside me to pester me?”
“What’s a brother for?” Rylan chuckled and rubbed his shoulders against the back of the couch.
“Everything okay with you and Aviana?”
“Yeah, it’s fine. Mckayla hasn’t really been sleeping. She wakes up in the middle of the night crying. Then we either put her in bed with us or Avi ends up going into her room to sleep.”
“That’s not good. You should pay attention to her dreams.”
“I pay attention to them, so does her mother, and that’s why I’m sitting on your couch instead of trying to steal time with my soul-bonded.”
“She’s dreaming of me?”
“Yes. She’s dreaming that something bad is going to happen to her Uncle Gabe.”
Gabe dropped his head allowing his chin to relax on his chest while he thought. Mckayla was a powerful little girl who would become more powerful as she grew. She was also the Umor Princess, heir to the kingdom built on Earth. If she was dreaming about him, he needed to pay more attention to what was happening around him.
“I’ll be careful. I don’t have a death wish or a desire to be captured by a Sudir.” He gave a small shake at the thought.
“You need to do more than that and you know it. You need your soul-bonded.”
“It’s not that easy, Rylan and you know it. If it wasn’t easy for you, why would you think it would be easy for me?”
“You didn’t live through that hell, Gabe! It should be easier.”
“Your right, Rylan, I lived through a different hell. One that started with guilt that I hadn’t been there for you. It tore me up on the inside but it didn’t stop there. Did you really think you were so advanced you could cut me off from all you experienced? No, I was there.
“When you were violated I was there. I felt everything and when you did manage to cut me off, I guarantee you thoughts of what was happening to you were just as destructive as being there. Do you know how many days I found myself on my hands and knees bent over holding my stomach after losing everything I ate that day?
“Do you know why I was rail thin when we finally found you? I stopped eating. I couldn’t take rejecting food anymore so I simply stopped. Do you think I don’t see you when you check to see if I’ve eaten?” He stood because sitting was no longer acceptable.
“Gabe…” Rylan breathed slowly, a look of pain on his face.
“Sorry, I stuffed all of this deep inside the day we found you.”
“No, sorry please. I was wrapped up in myself but I knew enough to keep an eye on you. I see you spiraling, Gabe and I’m not going to let you go. I will help you stay sane just like you helped me.”
“I know.”
“Now what is it about Taya that you’re not sure about?
“Everything, Ry.”
Chapter Five
Taya knew she was wrong. She got up early and snuck down the flight of stairs with her walking shoes in her hand—a prayer on her lips or at least in her heart that no one would hear her. At the bottom of the stairs, she slid her shoes on silently, her ankle felt almost like new; she let herself out of the house. There was no doubt in her mind that she should have stayed, faced Gabe at breakfast like he was expecting, but she couldn’t.
His sweet kiss invaded her dreams last night. There were no rockets, damn she expected at least fireworks but maybe this was worse. His kiss left her feeling safe and cherished. She wanted to kiss him again to see if the low heat in her belly would continue. Her parents told her about fireworks and toe curling kisses, so why did she just want to melt in his arms and let him worship her? Thoughts like this would lead to her ultimate downfall. Time to get back to real life.
It was time to make a decision about what she was going to do and why. A decision like that shouldn’t be made over waffles. At the thought of waffles, her stomach growled. She would love some homemade waffles layered in butter and syrup. She laughed, if only she knew how to make them. Maybe that would be on her to do list. Once this was over, she would learn how to cook for real.
Picking an arbitrary direction, she started walking. It was early morning; the last thing that should be outside was an alien homicidal killer. That thought made her feel better. For some reason she always believed true killers operated at night.
She looked around at the trees with their new green leaves unfolding amongst them, some were evergreens. One of the things she loved to do was touch the new needles on pine trees; they were so soft in the beginning. A lopsided smile slid over her face at the thought.
Taking a deep breath, she walked further allowing the weight she was carrying slowly rolled off her shoulders. Maybe it was time to go home, to see her parents. If evil was going to follow her wherever she went, then she owed it to them to say a proper goodbye before disappearing forever.
She looked around and realized she had gone deeper into the woods than she intended. Stopping and turning around, she started to retrace her footsteps.
“Don’t leave little rabbit. Come explore my world.”
Stupid Taya, she mentally lashed out at herself. Everything had been so calm and still that she let herself feel a false sense of peace. Of course it was calm because a predator had driven anything away that would make noise.
Increasing her steps, she moved faster but refused to run knowing she would probably fall, and then there wouldn’t be a chance.
“Hop little bunny, faster, faster. Do you really think I am letting you go? You look like a tasty meal and I am hungry.”
She scanned the area unable to see who was speaking to her but she could hear him like he was in her ear. She made her feet move faster until she was in a jog. All she had to do was make it back to the road and she would be safe. She didn’t know why, but some internal source was telling her there was a line of safety and she crossed it in her ignorance.
Looking forward she could see the road. A small smile of victory dipped across her face—she would make it.
The lasso of power that circled her body and pulled her backwards came out of nowhere. The scream that hovered in her throat never broke free as the hand of a mon
ster covered her mouth. Black swam before her eyes. He would kill her was all she thought before she blacked out.
*~*~*~*
“Where’s Gabe?” Selma asked as everyone seated themselves at the table.
“I don’t know, but Taya isn’t here either so I was giving him some privacy, hoping they are together.”
Rylan jumped out of his chair when he heard a loud noise from the other room. He ran into the foyer to see Gabe curled on the floor at the bottom of the steps.
“Ry,” he reached his hand out before his body arched in the air and a scream of pain left him.
Rylan was by his side running his hand over his body. “Gabe, what’s happening?”
“Zuhun has her. He’s draining her and she is connected to me. The kiss, it has to be the kiss from last night. He’s getting two for the price of one.”
“We have to break the connection.”
“No, Ry if you do that she’ll die.”
“If I don’t you will die.”
“Get her to safety then we both live.”
“You need to go upstairs first.”
“You were always the funny brother. I’ll be coming; you’re going to need my help.”
Rylan helped him to his feet before he told the others what was happening.
“We have to go get her. There’s no other way.”
Victor nodded. “Cal, go get the SUV and bring it around front. Selma, we’ll go. Take the kids to school and work on making the perimeter more stable.”
“Victor,” there was a warning sound in Selma’s voice.
“I’m not giving you busy work or trying to keep you out of danger. We need to expand the perimeter around our property. Taya couldn’t have wondered that far off which means Zuhun is actively hunting us again. I know Vick and Mckayla are safe but what about the children who will come after them?”
Selma dropped her shoulders. “You’re right. I just want to be there to help. Go get her, the longer we talk the more damage he’s doing.”
Gabe's Destiny (Alien Mates Book Three) Page 3