by Zena Zion
Margwall had threatened to remove her from the program if she did not agree to be the biological lead on this mission. Unable to turn down the career of her dreams, she had been rushed into the program with almost no preparation. The professor had countered her concerns about this issue by recounting that the sub-par intelligence of the host species would be so beneath her that his communications would catch her up to speed after her arrival on the planet. It was now clear to her that he had been grossly mistaken.
“I know you’ve lost communications.” He began to walk swiftly toward a pair of interlocking doors that stood behind the dais, “I had them disabled.”
“Excuse me?” She ran after him. “You did what?”
He held the door open with one arm and gestured for her to pass through.
“I had them disabled. Your Professor Margwall is an interesting character but we’d much rather study your human presence without external influences. I was planning on renewing your contact once I’d completed my research but, in light of recent events, I don’t believe that will be necessary.”
“You can’t keep me here forever.” She chased after him down the winding hallway.
“I can and I will.” He drew to a sudden stop and she barely kept herself from colliding with his back. He turned to face her with a serious expression. “You belong to me now. May I remind you, at your own request? Though,” His eyes raked over her body once more and Beth caught a sight of healthy male approval in them, “I don’t doubt that I would have come to the same conclusion on my own, given another moment or so.”
“This is barbaric!” she shouted.
“What is barbaric,” He grabbed her shoulders and forced her to look at him, “is the Earthly ritual of mating for convenience or gain of wealth and power. Here on Asreen, we find our mates with instinct and desire, a name can tell us the strength of the female, her fertility, or willingness to mate but never would we choose for social gain or expectation. Your twisted ways, human, are the reason that you hadn’t previously chosen a mate of your own. You weren’t looking for a male to lay with and protect you, you were waiting for the ideal match of financial security, a matter only primitive species would find of highest value. On this planet, the lowest man, if strong and intelligent enough, can earn the most desirable female and she would be proud to have him.”
Beth stared into Thren’s blue eyes. Was he trying to make that grotesque display of male strength sound more romantic than the mutually agreed upon marriages of her own planet.
It was clear that he saw the skepticism in her eyes because he leaned down over her and whispered, “Tell me how you find this on Earth.”
His kiss came as a total surprise to Beth. Had she been prepared, she might have resisted. However, the sheer surprise had her gasping against his mouth, an act that was taken as approval for his tongue to slip gently between her lips.
The taste of him was intoxicating, like sweet fruit mixed with the strongest of wine. Within moments, she was pressed against his bare chest, clinging to his body as if she could draw life from his very lips. His hands pulled her tight and pressed her against him while hers clung helplessly to the wide strength of his shoulders.
Beth allowed it. Not only that, but she gave herself entirely to the kiss that they shared, responding to his every demand with a need of her own that surprised her. Never had she kissed a man like this before. Not, she reminded herself, that he was like any man she had ever met. He wasn’t even human.
The reminder of her mission hit her like a brick in the stomach. She peeled herself away from him and rubbed at her damp lips with the back of her hand. If only she could erase the memory of that kiss entirely. Unfortunately, the swelling of her lips would be a sure reminder for a short while.
“Do you understand our ways now?” His half grin was so sure that it made her blood boil with anger.
“No.” she spat. “Nor do I ever want to. You will refrain from allowing that to happen again.”
Thren pressed his lips together as if holding back an amusing comment.
Finally, he spoke.
“I do not think there will be any avoiding this on either of our part. Let’s not pretend that you enjoyed that any less than I, and I do intend to enjoy it again.” He turned on his heel and continued down the hallway as if what had just occurred was a perfectly normal event between two fellow researchers.
CH. 4. INITIAL OBSERVATIONS
Thren led her to his command room, which doubled as a research laboratory. The packed items from Beth’s pod had been assembled along the far wall but the ship itself was nowhere to be seen.
Beth crossed the room, ignoring her belongings and focusing instead on the captivating view outside the panoramic window.
She glanced down at the barren landscape, at least five hundred feet below, and quickly raised her eyes to the skyline when her stomach gave an exaggerated lurch.
Far off in the distance was a rugged mountain range that clearly housed a second stronghold of one of the other Asreen tribes. Beth wondered what the capital would look like from their vantage point, a massive city-structure sitting alone in the middle of a rocky desert.
Thren came to stand beside her, his eyes following the colorful creatures that soared outside the window with graceful ease.
“When we take our other form,” he spoke with a gentle voice, “we are called Asray. Some choose that shape permanently, others transform at will, and only the mate of our commander will never shift to her bestial form again for she has an army of citizens sworn to protect her.” Thren turned to face Beth with a strange look on his almost-human face. “It is almost as if, with your unchanging form, you were destined to be my mate.”
Beth raised her eyebrows in disbelief.
“This is ridiculous.” She muttered, turning to examine her pile of supplies. “Where is my pod?”
“It has been put away to ensure that you do not attempt to slip away without my knowledge.” His reply was forthright as if it were the obvious solution to hold her captive for an indeterminate amount of time.
“I need to speak with my team.” She argued. “They need to know that I’ve arrived.”
“I’ve sent communications. They will not be expecting a further reply for some time now, at which point, I will reveal your decision to remain indefinitely. I understand that your instantons decision was quite uncharacteristic of your species and you would not want to cause them alarm.”
“My decision?” Beth veritably growled at him. “I made no decision. I asked you to halt their quarrel. That is all.”
Thren replied with a thoughtful hum that clearly revealed that he thought her stubborn refusal to admit that she wanted him to claim her was merely a show of pride.
“Can we just get to work?” Beth grumbled. “What is it exactly that you believe Professor Margwall can help you with?”
Thren’s look of surprise caught Beth off guard.
“Help us with?” He scoffed. “We need no help from Earth. I was under the impression that you were the dying breed.”
Beth pondered his response and then reminded herself about what the Professor had said about Asreen pride.
“Well, perhaps you can enlighten me on what sort of information you had intended to trade? My exact orders were supposed to be communicated upon landing. As it appears that you wish to prevent me from this contact, the least that you could do would be to explain what it is that I am supposed to be collecting.”
“Your professor expressed nothing more than the desire to catalog data on the morphology of each known species in the galaxy. As such, I would imagine that you would wish to provide a thorough examination of a specimen for this book he is compiling, nothing more. In return, we receive the ability to study you in return. Our planet places high stock in the collection of knowledge and technology. We are always receptive to the open exchange of benign, categorical information.”
“What do you mean by that?” She interrupted.
Thren released a
deep chuckle that resulted in a flutter in Beth’s abdomen. “I mean that you will have no opportunity to study our weaponry, strategic forces, or our supply of oxygen and food. Nothing that would give an attacker the advantage against our peaceful society.”
“Fair enough.” Beth conceded. “Then I shall share only benign, categorical information with you as well.” The repeating of his own words made Thren chuckle once more.
“Little Earthling, there is nothing on your planet that we want.” He brushed her brown hair away from her face, “well, maybe one thing.” The pure lust in his eyes made Beth blush and turn away.
“Let’s just begin, shall we?” The quicker she collected her information, the sooner she could leave this planet, she told herself. Only when she remembered that Thren had no intention of releasing her did she decide that it was necessary to find some weakness to exploit, some knowledge that would help her escape the formidable creatures that occupied this planet.
Beth spent the best part of two hours sorting her equipment. When she had finally arranged all of the necessary items along a table that stood chest-high, she turned to find Thren idly lounging among his own assorted items.
For the first time it occurred to Beth that he would make an excellent commander when his father stepped down from command. He was patient, yet firm. Strong, observant, and charismatic. It did not hurt that he was incredibly attractive, by both Asreen and Earth standards but, perhaps the most impressive feature of all was his undeniable intelligence. Not only was he esteemed among his own kind for his incredible mind, but he had also taken the time to learn not only her language, but as much as possible about Earth from the information provided.
Professor Margwall had implied that he doubted the aliens had made use of the massive amounts of information that he had sent them. It appeared that Thren had thoroughly studied every bit of it.
Thren was holding what looked like an elementary grammar book, flipping idly through the pages.
“Why do you record your history on such items that can easily be lost or destroyed?” He mused without looking at her.
“Books can be passed down for generations, or reprinted if necessary.” She replied.
“What if one is entirely lost and cannot be remembered?” He tossed the book onto a neatly stacked pile of papers as if it were no more than a piece of junk to be thrown away.
“I can’t deny that has happened.” She wondered how it was that the Asreen people kept track of information if it was not recorded in some physical form.
Thren paused as if considering whether or not to answer. He must have finally deemed the information non-threatening because he eventually explained.
“Beneath the surface of our planet lies the recorded history of our people, kept and protected by those who have forsaken their color. You would see them as gray in hue. It means that they have devoted their life to nothing more or less than constant study. They take no mates, hold no positions of honor, and forgo the vanity of our beautiful race.”
He gestured for her to stand on a small circular platform.
“Hold your arms out and stand straight.” He instructed, withdrawing what looked like a tape measure from a nearby drawer. The marking on it made no sense to Beth but she understood their purpose when he began measuring her dimensions. Never once did he pause to record the numbers. Apparently, his brain was capable of remembering each fact as it was ascertained.
“The colorless keep our knowledge in their own way, waiting to be referenced if any other might have a need.”
His hands trailed in feather light touches all over her body as she was sized and measured, starting with her limbs and then moving on to even the smallest feature of her face.
“The rest of us complete our own studies, as I am now, which will then be shared with the colorless to preserve. Any discovery or history is discussed verbally between groups or individuals. Alterations of facts or biased representations are considered the gravest of errors, sometimes punishable by death if considered an outright falsehood.”
Beth now understood his issue with books. On Earth, two writings of the same event can grossly differ in content. Bias is nearly always present. She wondered what it would be like to receive an education that was so straightforward and honest. There would be a great deal of confidence that would come with such a level of certainty and trust.
When he began measuring her torso, Beth experienced a moment of shock. His hands did not gently avoid her hips or breasts a human male would have. Instead, he measured her shapely curves with the same forthright movements as he had an ankle or her forehead. Full hands held the measuring tape against her and not once did Thren appear discomforted by the intimate touch.
When his hand began to lift her shirt, for what she could only assume was a closer evaluation of her breasts, Beth swatted his hand away.
“Don’t you dare.” She snapped. Thren was staring at her white shirt with confusion.
“I forgot about human modesty. You didn’t always have it but developed it in recent generations.” He looked up at her. Once again, his eyes shifted to her waist and a childish look of curiosity crossed his face. “You have to let me look.” He demanded.
“I certainly do not!” She exclaimed. “I saw some of the women in that chamber wearing sheer tops. I can promise you that their breasts aren’t much different than mine.”
His eyes raked over her generous bosom as if considering her statement for a moment.
“While I would be more than willing for you to prove that, it isn’t what I was looking for.” His eyes stared again at her midsection. “What is that?”
One large hand pressed flat against her abdomen. Beth furrowed her brow in confusion.
Slowly, his hand inched back down to the edge of her shirt, giving her the opportunity to slap his hand away if she desired. Perplexed and intrigued by his curiosity, she allowed his touch to continue.
When he folded her shirt up so that the hem balanced on her chest without either of them holding it, she followed his narrowed eyes and burst out laughing.
Clapping a hand against her stomach, she could not stop the roar of laughter that broke forth.
Thren pulled her hand away and tentatively touched the small area where once her umbilical cord had been attached.
“What does it do?” He poked it, causing her to laugh with even more gusto.
“It’s my belly button!” She giggled. “Don’t touch it. It tickles!”
He stared at her as if she had lost her mind. Beth shook her head to regain her composure and took a serious look at Thren’s muscular abdomen. He did not have one.
Before she could stop herself, Beth had run her own hand against his firm stomach. Her eyes drifted lower to the waist of his pants, then back up to his face with a question.
“No. Not lower for us. Not anywhere.” He shook his head, understanding in an instant. “What is it?”
Beth took a deep breath and tried to decide the best way to explain what was apparently a completely unheard of topic.
“It’s where I was attached to my mother, before I was born. Nutrients from her body would pass to mine until I was grown enough to be detached through birth.” She grimaced. That was a terrible explanation but without getting into all of the technical details, it was the best she could do on short notice.
“You’re saying that you don’t have a shell?” Thren seemed utterly amazed by this concept.
“What? No.” Beth thought back to the form of the Asray, both avian and reptilian. “Are you saying that you were born from an egg?”
“No. Not really but, sort of.” Thren explained. “We grow inside of our mother’s abdomen except in a flexible shell, or a sack, that contains everything that we need to grow. It’s a live birth but we aren’t… attached, as you seem to have been.”
“Which form are you born in?” She could not wait to write all of this down in her notebook.
He shrugged. “Either.”
It was at that point that
Beth realized that Thren’s mind had moved on from the current conversation. He was now staring at her barely concealed chest that still lay exposed from his investigation of her stomach.
Beth swallowed deeply. She should have pulled her shirt down but it seemed as if under his gaze, she was unable to move. Instead, she stood there, watching a myriad of reactions play across his face as he stared at her body.
Her hands itched to touch him. Not in the purely analytical way that would be required when she completed her own charted analysis of his physical makeup, but to roam over his silken skin and rock hard musculature.
She must have made a sound. In fact, she was fairly certain that she had sighed, though she would never admit it aloud. In the next instant, she was in his arms, her hands doing as they wished as his own staked their claim over her exposed skin.
Beth’s mouth opened to him and Thren wasted no time taking advantage of it. His masterful tongue raked against her lips in a way that unmistakably communicated his raw hunger for her.
The air seemed thick and Beth could not seem to draw enough oxygen. Her head was spinning and her breath came in ragged gasps as she pressed herself against him. Feeling his body harden against her, Beth felt absolutely certain that there was at least one part of his anatomy which would be completely familiar.
She wanted him. With pure, unadulterated passion, she wanted Thren more than any man she had ever wanted before. Every inch of her body called to him, pressed against him, and yearned for the desire to know him more intimately, much more.
His hands were at her breasts, kneading and rolling his thumbs against their hardened peaks. She wished that she had not been wearing a bra, the feel of his cool hands against her skin made her want to feel that same sensation against her more sensitive areas.
Beth’s hand snaked between them and came to rest on his engorged flesh. She could feel his pulse against her palm, his growing need driving her closer and closer to the brink of madness.
She ran her fingers inside the hem of his pants, wanting to feel the silky smoothness that waited inside.