by Anna Zaires
“Of course.” Pushing her disappointment away, Emily forced a bright smile to her lips. “So I just speak to the tablet, and it’ll know what to do and where to send the email?”
“Yes, exactly. Go ahead.” He folded his arms across his chest, and her heartbeat sped up further when she realized he wasn’t going to give her any privacy for this.
“Okay,” she said, hoping he couldn’t detect how sweaty her palms had become. “How about this? ‘Hey, Amber. So sorry I didn’t email you before, but I got delayed here in Costa Rica. I’ll explain more when I get home, but in the meanwhile, would you mind keeping George for a few more days? Thanks in advance!’”
“For two more weeks,” Zaron corrected, and Emily saw the text—with his correction—briefly appear on the tablet screen in front of her. Then her Gmail flashed on the screen, showing the sent message, and the tablet went blank again.
“Good job,” Zaron said, taking the tablet from her, and Emily watched as the object disappeared back into the wall. “Now if you don’t mind, I have to jump into a virtual meeting. I’ll see you in a couple of hours.”
Bending down, he brushed his lips across hers in a brief kiss and disappeared through an opening in the wall, leaving Emily alone with her suspicions.
* * *
Zaron worked all evening. By the time he came out of his study, Emily was half-asleep. He made love to her for a couple of hours, exhausting her further, and it wasn’t until the next afternoon, when they went on their walk, that she had a chance to interrogate him again. At that point, Zaron knew he had to tell her something, and he opted for the truth.
It might upset Emily and make the next two weeks less pleasant than they could’ve been, but he didn’t want to lie to her.
“So how many of your people are coming?” she asked as they were walking toward the lake. “Is it a big delegation?”
Emily’s tone was calm, almost disinterested, but Zaron wasn’t fooled. His human guest was smart. Once she got over the shock of meeting him and learning about the Krinar, it didn’t take her long to start questioning everything.
Sighing, he answered, “About fifty thousand. But, Emily—”
“Fifty thousand?” She stopped under an Enterolobium cyclocarpum, the guanacaste tree, all color leaching from her face as she gaped at him. “Fifty thousand of your people are coming to Earth in two weeks?”
“Yes. But we don’t intend your people any harm, I promise.”
“What do you intend then? You’re not just coming to introduce yourselves, are you?”
“No, not exactly,” Zaron admitted. “We’re also going to be settling here.”
“Settling?” Emily’s voice rose. “Settling where?”
“In ten different locations around Earth,” Zaron said, wondering how much he could disclose. He decided to err on the side of caution. “We’re still choosing them right now.”
“Oh my God.” Emily took a step back, her hand pressed to her mouth. “You want to colonize our planet, steal it from—”
“Emily, stop.” Zaron caught her in two long strides and gently pulled her hand down, away from her trembling lips. “It’s not like that at all. Yes, we’re going to establish some settlements here, but we’re not stealing your planet. Your people will continue to live in their cities and govern themselves as they always have. Your lives won’t change much. We’re just going to be your neighbors, that’s all.”
“That’s all?” In the shade of the guanacaste tree, Emily’s eyes were almost completely green as she stared up at him, and he could feel the pulse beating rapidly in her slender wrist. “How stupid do you think I am? You’re going to do to us what more advanced civilizations have always done to the natives, and—”
“No, we won’t,” Zaron said. He wasn’t privy to the Council’s longer-term plans for Earth, but he was fairly sure they didn’t have any nefarious intentions for humans. What would be the point? In a way, humans were children of the Krinar, or at least their creations.
Stroking his thumb across the inside of Emily’s wrist, he said, “If we wanted to hurt you or take your planet away from you, we could’ve done so at any point during your evolution. We didn’t need to wait until you had nuclear weapons and satellites; we could’ve come when you were still in the Stone Age. That was practically yesterday for us. But we didn’t do that because that’s not what we’re after.”
Emily didn’t look reassured. “Then what are you after? What do you want from us? Why do you want to settle here?”
“Well, for one thing, our solar system is older than yours.” Zaron released Emily’s wrist, noting with pleasure that she didn’t immediately back away. “In another hundred million years or so, our sun is going to die, and if we’re still there when it happens, we’ll perish along with it. I know that’s still fairly far in the future—probably an eternity for a species as young as yours—but it’s something we have to be cognizant of. Coming here is a diversification strategy for us, a way to ensure our survival beyond the natural lifespan of our solar system.”
“So because your planet is old, you want to take ours?”
Zaron sighed again. She wasn’t listening. “Not take it, share it,” he said patiently. “All we’re talking about at this point are fifty thousand of us, a drop in the bucket compared to the human population of Earth.”
“Maybe, but I’m guessing our missiles are like toy guns compared to whatever weapons you have.” Her eyes held his in a silent challenge. “Aren’t they?”
“Yes—but that’s only a consideration if you decide to use those missiles against us,” Zaron said. “Like I told you, we don’t intend your people any harm.”
Emily turned away and took a couple of steps toward a tall Cyathea arborea, then spun around to face him again. “So how do you plan to do this? I don’t see our governments letting you settle here without a fight. You can’t just expect to waltz in here and say, ‘Hey, give us some land,’ and have it magically happen.”
“I’m sure the Council has considered that and has a plan for just such an eventuality,” Zaron said. “I’m not on the Council, so—”
“What is your role, then? Why are you here? You said you’re a biologist.”
“I am, and a soil specialist as well.” Zaron had hoped she wouldn’t go there, but he didn’t want to lie about this, either. “My role is to choose the appropriate locations for our settlements—sparsely populated areas with suitable climate and soil.”
Emily stared at him. “I see.”
She turned away again, and Zaron could sense the barriers she was putting up between them. Her slim back was rigid, her shoulders bunched with tension. She didn’t believe him, didn’t trust him, and he couldn’t blame her. His people were invading her planet. The Krinar might’ve planted life here, but Earth had been home to humans for as long as her species had existed, and now the Krinar were planning to settle here. Had the situation been reversed, his people would’ve been livid—and there was every reason to think the humans would be too.
“Emily.” Stepping toward her, Zaron gently grasped her arm and turned her to face him. “I’m sorry if this upset you, but I didn’t want to lie to you.”
She gazed up at him, her face still colorless. “Is there any way you could talk to your Council, try to convince them not to do this? You have a perfectly good planet for another hundred million years—you don’t need ours.”
“Emily…” He knew she understood the impossibility of her request; her tone was dull, resigned. Still, his chest felt heavy as he said, “I’m sorry, I can’t. Everything’s already been decided, and the ships are on their way.”
Her lips quivered for a moment before flattening into a firm line. “Okay. I understand. Now, please, let go of me.”
Zaron glanced down and realized he was still holding her, his fingers wrapped around her upper arm. A pulse of anger shot through him as he realized that she intended to treat him as an enemy, ignoring everything that had passed between them. “No,” h
e said, gripping her other arm and pulling her closer. “I’m not letting go of you. This doesn’t change anything, angel. You’re mine for the next two weeks.”
Emily’s mouth opened—undoubtedly to protest his highhandedness—but he was already bending his head to kiss her.
She tasted soft and sweet, even as she tried to twist away, her hands rising up to push at his biceps. “Don’t,” she managed to gasp out before Zaron recaptured her lips, and his body hardened as he deepened the kiss and felt the heat rising off her skin. She was getting turned on, the scent of her arousal inflaming his senses, and her struggles were lessening with each moment.
She still wanted him, and Zaron intended to capitalize on that.
Continuing to kiss her, he lowered her to the ground, stretching her out on the hard blanket of leaves and grass. Clasping her wrists, he pinned her arms above her head with one hand, then slid his free hand down her body and pulled up the skirt of her dress, using his knees to part her legs. She was open to him now, her sex warm and slick as he delved into her folds, and his cock throbbed, aching to be inside her.
Tearing his mouth away, Zaron lifted his head and stared down at the human girl, remembering the first time he’d had her like this. She’d wanted him then too, but she’d been scared and he’d let her go.
He wasn’t going to let her go now.
Emily’s bright eyes were glazed as she stared up at him, her lips swollen and glistening from his kisses. Blond hair lay in a tangle of pale waves around her face, and a flush brightened her creamy cheeks as his fingers played with her clit. She was too far gone to stop him now, and the primitive, savage part of him reveled in that.
He wanted her exactly like this: dazed with pleasure and helpless to deny him.
“That’s it, angel,” he murmured, hearing her breathing quicken as he pushed two fingers into her tight channel and rolled his thumb across her clit. “Let go. Let go and come for me.”
Her eyes drifted closed, and a soft, choked cry escaped her throat as her inner walls spasmed, clenching around his fingers. She was so wet now that his fingers glided in and out with no resistance, and he fucked her straight through the orgasm, his balls drawing closer to his body with each thrust of his fingers. If he hadn’t spent half the night buried inside her body, he would’ve lost control by now, but as it was, Zaron could hang on—barely.
When she lay spent and panting underneath him, he tore open his jeans, finally freeing his aching cock. “Emily,” he whispered hoarsely, pressing against her soft opening. “Look at me, angel.”
Her eyelids rose, long lashes sweeping up slowly, and an odd warmth glowed in his chest as her eyes locked on his face. “This, here, has nothing to do with what’s going on out there,” he said, his voice low and thick. “You and I, we’re not enemies, no matter what happens. Do you understand? For the next two weeks, you’re here with me, and that’s all that matters.”
Emily didn’t say anything, but her gaze was tormented, and Zaron knew it wouldn’t be that easy. She would fight him. Maybe not at this moment, but she would fight him, just as her people would fight the Krinar when they arrived.
Anger surged through Zaron again, mixing with the burning lust, and he pushed deep into Emily’s body, penetrating her all the way without slowing. She cried out—a pained cry, he registered vaguely—but he couldn’t stop, driven by a hunger that seemed to come from some dark place inside him. She was slick and tight around him, her body clasping him with soft, wet heat, and he wanted her more than he’d ever wanted anyone, everything inside him centering on one need only: to take her, to possess her, to make her his.
Before long, she was meeting him thrust for thrust, her hips rising to take him in deeper. He could hear her gasping cries and moans, and the need to take her blood, to taste her that way too, was as potent as the lust boiling in his veins. He was already lowering his head when Ellet’s warning blipped somewhere in the back of his mind, and instead of slicing his teeth across Emily’s tender skin, he turned his head away and increased his pace, hammering into her with each stroke. Her cries were growing louder, more frantic, her wrists tensing in his grasp, and Zaron felt the ripples of her orgasm as she came, her inner muscles tightening around him. He wanted to hold on, to draw out the ecstasy of possessing her, but the convulsive clenching of her body sent him over the edge. A harsh groan tore from him as he thrust deep one last time, and then he was coming, his seed jetting into her in several long bursts.
Gasping for air, he rolled off Emily and gathered her against him, his thoughts scattered as he held her from the back. She was breathing heavily too, her slim body shaking and her skin damp with sweat. Closing his eyes, Zaron tightened his hold on her and buried his head in her hair, inhaling her sweet scent.
There was only one word circling through his brain, only one thought he could formulate.
Mine.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Over the next several days, Emily had so much sex she felt like she was drowning in pleasure. Zaron was insatiable and had inhuman stamina, which meant that by the time he was done with her, she was exhausted and on the verge of passing out. If it hadn’t been for his handy healing devices, she would’ve been constantly sore.
“God, are your people always like this?” she mumbled when he woke her up by sliding into her from the back, his thick cock invading her for the third time that night. “Don’t you ever get tired?”
“Not of you,” he breathed in her ear, his hand moving down her stomach to find the bundle of nerves at the apex of her sex. “Not of this. I could fuck you for an eternity.”
Emily didn’t know about an eternity, but he certainly took her every chance he got, and then some. She suspected that nonstop sex was Zaron’s way of distracting her from his horrifying revelations, and most of the time, the strategy worked. When she was in his arms, she couldn’t think, much less worry about the upcoming invasion of her planet. The moment he left her alone, however, her stomach would churn with anxiety, and their conversations at mealtimes were frequently tense and adversarial.
“There will be war—interplanetary war. Don’t you understand that?” Emily burst out when Zaron tried to convince her at lunch that she had nothing to worry about. “Your people will come, and there will be war.”
“No, there won’t be,” he said with calm certainty. “Some resistance, maybe, but not war.”
“No? You think we’re just going to roll over and—”
“Emily.” He reached across the table to take her hand. “There won’t be war because we won’t let it come to that. You were right: all your weapons are like children’s toys to us. Would there be war if the United States army came to a kindergarten? No. Your soldiers would just do what they wanted, and that’s it. And it will be the same with us.”
Emily gaped at him in horror. “Are you even listening to yourself? You think it’s somehow better that your people will subjugate us without a fight?”
“Of course it is.” Zaron patted her hand before resuming eating. “No war is always better than war.”
For the rest of the meal, Emily refused to speak to him, doing her best to give him the cold shoulder, but when he took her for a walk afterwards, they again ended up having sex in the forest. Emily hated herself for that, for her inability to resist his touch, but her body kept betraying her. The moment Zaron touched her, she melted into a puddle of need, and her captor knew it and took ruthless advantage of the situation.
“Don’t you realize how wrong this is?” she asked when she lay in his arms that evening, her body humming with satiation but her thoughts full of self-loathing. “What you’re doing to me is really messed up.”
Zaron turned her over to face him, his black eyes unreadable in the dim light illuminating the room. “It’s only wrong if you don’t want me, but you do.” His voice was low and deep, enveloping her in a warm, seductive cocoon. “You want me just was much as I want you, angel, so let’s not pretend and make this anything other than what it is.
”
“And what is that?” Emily whispered, her chest tight. “How do you see this? Because from where I stand, you’re keeping me captive and your people are about to invade my planet. And yet you’re—” She stopped at the rapidly darkening expression on his face.
“I’m what?” His hand slid down her side. “Touching you?” His fingers squeezed her ass cheek as he pulled her closer to him. “Fucking you?”
Emily caught her breath as his erection pressed against her thigh, as hard as if it had been days, not minutes, since he’d been inside her. “Yes, exactly,” she managed to say, pushing at his muscled chest. “I’m not a sex doll for you to—”
“You’re what I want you to be.” He lifted her leg and pushed into her, wringing a startled gasp from her throat. She was still sensitive and swollen from the previous time, and he felt enormous inside her, his cock stretching her tender inner walls. “My sex doll, my sex everything. I can’t get enough of you, angel. And for now, I don’t have to—because you’re mine. Aren’t you?”
He rolled his hips, hitting her G-spot, and Emily’s body tightened, clenching around him on a surge of need. She tried to cling to her anger, to think past her growing arousal, but he was already kissing her, his big hands kneading her breasts as he set a hard, driving pace, and for the rest of the night, there was no more talk of right and wrong.
There was just Zaron and the dark heat blanketing them both.
* * *
On Thursday morning, two hours before her hedge fund interview was scheduled to take place, Emily woke up to find herself alone in her comfortable alien bed. The intelligent material had shaped itself to her body while she slept, and she felt it massaging her neck and shoulders—a feature Zaron had enabled after learning that Emily’s back muscles were often tight from tension. She lay still for a few minutes, enjoying the bed’s ministrations, and then she got up. Despite sleeping fairly late, she felt tired and listless, almost depressed.