Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Table of Contents
Beginning
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
WARNING: This eBook contains sexually explicit scenes and adult language. It may be considered offensive to some readers. This eBook is for sale to adults ONLY.
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THE ALIEN’S NEEDS
Uoria Mates V | Book 5
Ruth Anne Scott
Personal Note
Thank you so much for your interest in this book and the Uoria Series as a whole. Uoria Mates launched my career as an author in 2015. Since then it’s been a multiple time bestseller and read by thousands of raving fans. I’m truly humbled by your support.
This is the fifth and final Uoria Mates Series and should be read in order. If you’re a first time reader please read the Uoria Series (now conveniently available in complete box sets) in the following order.
Uoria Mates I
Uoria Mates II
Uoria Mates III
A Uoria Christmas
Another Uoria Holiday
Uoria Mates IV
Buckle up and let’s go on this sci-fi romance adventure!
“Dreams and dedication are a powerful combination.” – William Longgood
Chapter One
“Are you absolutely sure that you want to do this?” Aubrey asked.
Mordecai watched as Ilya turned her wide, unassuming eyes toward her and looked at her for a few moments as if she wasn’t sure why she was even asking the question.
“Yes,” she said. “If any of you are going to that factory, then I am going with you.”
Aubrey glanced at Jonah and then toward Gannon and Willow. All of them had decided that they would travel together to the Orion Corporation factory despite Ilya’s warnings that it was a dangerous place where she had been captured and taken into the experiments, expecting that she would remain behind. As soon as they had made that decision, however, she had proclaimed that she would go along with them, offering them the unique knowledge that she had because she was the only one of the group who had actually been to the factory before. The rest of the group had been surprised by this decision, unsure if it was the right choice for her considering her experience with the factory and the vulnerable condition she was in with her pregnancy.
“I don’t think that you should go,” Jonah said, giving voice outright to what the others were thinking. “You might be in danger and I’m worried that you would get upset while we are there and that could make the situation far worse.”
“Of course, I will be in danger while I’m there,” Ilya said, her voice carrying a slight tinge of aggravation at Jonah assuming that he could take some kind of leadership role over her even though they were out of the basement and away from the facility where she had been held captive for so long. “All of you will be in danger if you go to that factory. It is not a safe place. It is not hospitable. Going there will put all of you at severe risk, but if you are going to choose to go there because there is something there that you believe has some meaning to you, then I am going with you. I feel that this is something that I need to do. I can’t explain it right now. I just feel that I can’t just sit by and let all of you go there knowing what I do about that place. I might not have been there for very long, and I might have been captured while I was there, but as it stands, I know more about it than any of you do. It might not be much, but if it can help, even a little, then it is my responsibility to be there with you and try to help you in any way that I can.”
There was a tense silence and Mordecai felt the urge in his chest to say something to defend her, though he didn’t know what he could say. It was a strange compulsion, something that he didn’t fully understand. All he knew was that he wanted to stand beside her, to comfort her, and to ensure that those around her treated her with the respect that he knew that she deserved, but that she had been denied for so long. He drew in a breath and stepped up closer to her.
“If Ilya feels that she should go to the factory with us, then there is nothing that we can do to stop her,” he said.
“I just don’t…” Jonah started.
Mordecai shook his head to silence the other man.
“You told us that we weren’t under anyone’s control anymore,” he said. “You said that when we left the basement, we were no longer anyone’s servant and that we couldn’t be forced to follow anyone’s commands for another day. Did you mean that?”
Jonah looked surprised at the argument and that Mordecai had spoken out against him, but he nodded.
“I did,” Jonah said, relenting. “It’s true. Ryan did his best to control everything that you did, and part of us freeing you from the facility was releasing you from that control. That goes for all of you and for all decisions that you have to make. If this is really what Ilya wants, then you are right. She can’t be told anything different and she can’t be forced to stay here.” He turned and looked at Ilya. “If you want to come along with us to the factory, that is your right. You can come. Just know that we are all concerned for you, your safety, and the safety of your baby.”
Mordecai saw Ilya wince and glance down at her belly. It was a reaction that he wasn’t expecting and one that gave him a strange feeling. She nodded and looked back at Jonah.
“That’s what I want,” she said. “I have to go back there.”
“Alright,” Jonah said. “If everyone is in agreement, then we’ll get ready and leave as soon as possible.”
Without another word, the group separated and headed out of the room toward their own rooms so that they could gather what they needed for the trip. Mordecai allowed everyone to pass in front of him before he started for his own room. Ilya was the last to leave in front of him and he watched her as she made her way down the hallway and into her room, closing the door softly behind her. He couldn’t get his mind off of what she had told the rest of them when she warned them not to go the factory. During his time in the facility with Ryan, Mordecai had known about the presence of the pregnant women who were used to breed the hybrid children being raised into the next wave of the army. It had never occurred to him, however, to think about where they had come from or why they were there. Had he thought about it, he might have simply assumed that they were bred there in the same way that he was. It was horrifying to think that these were women who had once had completely
normal lives. They had lived out in the world, had families and friends, dreamed of a future that had nothing to do with Ryan or the experiments that he had created. Then in an instant all of that had changed. They had no say in it, no way of changing or influencing it. He simply snatched them out of their lives and forced them into the mold that he had crafted for them.
Just knowing this made the scientist seem even more horrible and cruel than he already thought that he was. He thought of Ilya again and felt the confusion in his mind increase. He couldn’t understand how a woman as beautiful and intelligent as she was could fall in love with someone like Ryan. Not only had she fallen in love with him, but she had sacrificed everything about herself and lowered herself to chasing after him to desperately try to keep him in her grasps when she found out that he was seeing someone else. It didn’t make any sense. She was wonderful beyond anything that Mordecai could have ever imagined a woman could be, especially one who had been through everything that she had. Even though Aubrey had commented that she was very quiet and had mostly kept to herself, not socializing with the other people in the laboratory and spending very little time letting any of them know anything about her, Mordecai didn’t see that as a bad thing. He didn’t understand why it was a problem that she had devoted herself to her work and what she was supposed to be doing when she was in the laboratory, ensuring that she put all of herself into the projects that she worked on, rather than wasting time and energy on forming connections with people who she would likely have no reason to be involved with if they didn’t happen to be in the same lab to work. Though it might seem harsh he could understand that she would rather block herself off to the other people so that she could put all of her effort into her work rather than compromising her professional success for superficial friendships and the intrusions of other people on her privacy.
The fact that Mordecai fully understood that motivation made it even more difficult for him to understand what had led her into Ryan’s life and then into his arms. If she didn’t have the time or energy to devote to the people who she saw every day in the lab, how could she have been convinced to enter a relationship with a man who was so much older and who was capable of doing the things that he did? He thought about what Aubrey said about the other people in the office making assumptions about her and trying to figure out who she was and what her life was like. He wondered how many of them had truly made any effort to get to know her rather than just assuming that she was hovering on the periphery and that that allowed them to make any guesses and assumptions about her that they pleased. She had to have been aware of that. She had to have known that they looked at her differently and that they had thoughts about her that were influenced by her choice not to engage with them in the same way. How much of that had to do with her agreeing to be in a relationship with Ryan? How much of the feeling that she should change the way that she thought of social interactions pushed her into accepting his advances and feeling flattered and charmed by his attraction to her?
Mordecai gathered the clothing that Nana and Aubrey had purchased for him in the first few days that he had spent in the house and packed them into a satchel along with a few items from the bathroom attached to his bedroom. When he was as prepared as he thought that he could be, he went down the front stairs and stepped out onto the large front porch to wait for the rest of the group. He leaned his satchel against the wall and sat in one of the old rockers positioned along the porch, staring out over the peaceful grounds of the house. These surroundings stood in such incredible contrast to everything that he had known before Jonah and the rest of his group had rescued him from the facility. Where he had been surrounded by bright lights, constant sound, and technology even in the fields of crops or orchards, he now saw trees, grass, and flowers as far as his vision could extend. The sky above him was open and clear, the room that was completely his was quiet and private.
The comfort and contentment that he felt here made him even more nervous at the prospect of going to the factory. He knew that going there was putting himself right back into the path of Ryan and the Valdicians who served him. They had escaped once already and the thought of going back to face them again was truly terrifying. At the same time, Mordecai knew that he couldn’t let that fear stop him from going or from doing anything that he might need to do when he got there. He couldn’t give them any more power over himself or any of the other people who had been freed from their clutches. If he allowed his fear of facing them or the worry that he would end up back in the facility keep him from doing anything, he was in no better a position that he had been when he first stepped out of the reprograming room. He no longer wanted to be controlled. He no longer wanted anyone to be able to determine what he did or when. Being afraid was only giving them that power and he wouldn’t allow it.
Chapter Two
Icelyn looked at Malcolm for a beat, waiting for the impact of what he had just said to really sink in and process through her confused, tangled thoughts.
“What did you say?” she finally asked.
“You can marry me,” Malcolm said. “If we get married, I will be a part of your family, I will be able to release your grandfather from exile.”
Icelyn took an involuntary step back, needing more space around her even though she wasn’t entirely sure why. Her breath felt like it wasn’t getting all the way into her lungs and her vision was swirling in front of her as she tried to let everything wash over her and straighten in her mind.
“Marry you?” she asked again. “That’s your solution?” she looked at the other two men, waiting for one of them to say something, to add to the conversation so that she could better understand what he was saying. “You think that we should get married? Just like that?”
Malcolm stepped up to her and reached forward to take her hands in his. He brought them up to his mouth and touched a kiss to the backs of her fingers. He stared into her eyes, holding her gaze with an intensity that nearly took her breath away and made it impossible for her to look away.
“I would be honored to be a part of your family,” he said, “and to give of myself the way that they have.”
Though the other men standing in the room were staring at them expectantly, Malcolm spoke to her as if they were the only two people who could hear his words. She knew that he was speaking to her from his heart, expressing what had already existed within him even before he was told by the other men that this was the only way that they could rescue Casimir from where he waited, where he had been waiting for her entire life. Despite this, Icelyn hesitated. As much as she wanted to trust him, to know that he was speaking purely and with the most tender of intentions, she still felt like there was a wall between them. The wall was crafted from years of being alone and knowing not to trust anyone, not to ever believe the words that can between the lips of someone who her parents hadn’t personally introduced her to or whose name she hadn’t heard them say. Though she had still been so young when they had died, she had strong, specific memories of them, and it was only their words that she could use to guide her as she got older. Someone had hurt them. Someone had betrayed them. And she believed that if she kept herself surrounded by their words, shrouded by the warnings that they had given her even when they didn’t know that they were, she would be as protected as possible.
Malcolm drew her closer to him with a gentle tug of her hands and touched his forehead against hers. As soon as she felt the contact, she took a step back, pulling her hands from his and shaking her head.
“What is it?” Malcolm asked.
“All my life I’ve been controlled by what happened to my family. I’ve spent every day of my entire existence with the burden of who they were and what they went through hanging over me. I haven’t been able to do anything or make any decision without wondering who is watching me and if one day I might end up like them. Now all of you want to turn my marriage into an act of war.”
“Even if it is an act of war, why is that anything to be embarrassed or upset about? I
t is the strongest and most powerful act of rebellion to love in the face of horror and stand together in the face of danger.”
“Love?” Icelyn asked softly.
Malcolm nodded and took a cautious step toward her again.
“I love you with everything that is in me. I know that I have only known you such a short time, but that doesn’t matter to me. I don’t believe like I need to know you for any longer to know what I feel for you and what I know that I will feel for you every day for the rest of my life. I want to grow and learn and face that life with you by my side.”
Icelyn felt like the wall that had existed around her since the day that her parents died crumbled and she saw the world around her clearly for the first time. Her vision sharpened, and her thoughts clarified. Malcolm’s words had reached a part of her that she didn’t even know existed, a part of her that seemed like it had been waiting always to hear exactly what he had just said. But that was only one part. He couldn’t be responsible for all of it. He couldn’t be the only one who was reaching out and hoping that she would be there. Instead, Icelyn knew that she had to make just as much of a move, show just as much determination, awareness, and purposefulness. She took a step toward him, closing the space completely and finally putting the defenses behind her, making her at once vulnerable and the most protected that she had ever been.
“I love you,” she said. “I can’t explain it and I don’t understand it, but that is how I know that it’s right and exactly what I have been needing for my entire life. I am afraid of what this might mean, but I am more afraid of what it would mean to live my life without you. If this is an act of war, then I am more than willing to offer my service to you, to my family, and to my planet. I would be honored to marry you.”
The Alien's Needs (Uoria Mates V Book 5) Page 1