Loving Luc (Selkrian Tales)

by Gabriella Clark

  I nodded and stood, preceding him out the door. Once we were in the hallway he guided me over to the stairwell and opened the door for me. I glanced at him confused but walked inside and leaned against the banister. He walked in after me and closed the door behind him and stood looking at me for a moment. He started speaking but for the life of me I couldn't tell you what he said. I was too busy looking at the way he filled out his blue button up shirt, at the way his shoulders and biceps strained against the material. He had his sleeves rolled up so I could see his tanned muscular forearms ending in large long fingered hands. I could just imagine how it would feel to fill those hands caressing my body, would his palms be calloused adding a hit of roughness? Or would they be smooth and glide over my skin?

  I shook my head firmly and glanced up at him, only to realize he had stopped talking and now smirked at me. When he noticed me looking at him he raised his eyebrows high on his forehead and in response I dropped my forehead in my palm and shook my head before lifting it and asking “ I’m sorry could you please repeat that?”

  He chuckled a little and then said “ Andrew has told me your doing a great job here and has recommended you to help with an application we are adding last minute to the Assist. You are almost done working through the last of the bugs that we have and I also think it is a great idea for you to help with this”

  “Okay sure no problem what did you need?” I was curious I hadn't heard anything about an extra program being added to the the tablet especially with the release date a couple of months away. It must not be a big program or there would be no way to get it done in time for production.

  “This isn't a program they will all have, this is something special that will be offered for a limited time on a limited number of Assists and will be launched after the first initial launch date”

  I was even more curious now, what else could they be adding to it? The Assist was already pretty great from what I was able to see and I didnt think it could really be improved on from what they already had going. “ Tell me already! You with the suspense!” I said jokingly holding out my hands in a gimme motion.

  He laughed and said “ Well what we are trying to do is add an additional feature that will allow a holographic admin to appear. We're trying to capitalize on the rage nowadays that everyone is on with things like siri and alexa and the google home. It would have the same basic function but well give the added benefit of a holographic admin that will schedule your meetings, be able to order supplies, you name it.”

  “Wow “ I breathed excitedly, that sounded so cool! “ What is left to be done for it?”

  “Well we already have the physical design done we just maily need for the program to be coded and the program added. Which is where you come in at”

  I nodded excited to start “ When did you want this to start?”

  “Preferably tonight, I will be working with you on this and hope we can get it done by the end of the week. I’ve already started on it so it shouldn't take much more work until it's completed”

  I hesitated upon hearing that, I was already fighting a crush on this man and to be working in close contact with him...I didn't know if I would be able to stop myself from nibbling on that full bottom lip… stop that! I told myself firmly, finding myself staring at his full lips which were starting to tilt up at the corners. I let out a sigh and decided to just get it over with, I was an adult right? At least until I found out where I would be able to turn in my high school diploma and driver’s license so I could go back to being a kid. So I had to suck it up until then and deal with this. I could face my desire and handle it like a mature person

  “Listen I’m not sure that is a good idea. I mean I would love to help you with this. But there is obviously an attraction here between the two of us. Your hot ..I’m hot.. It’s natural we would want to combine our hotness together” I said jokingly, loving the sound of his laughter as it flowed out of him. “But I’m not sure it would be good to mix it with business” I continued regretfully

  He nodded thoughtfully “If we could keep it separate though? It’s not like you work directly for me , you are under Kale’s employ technically. And like you said we are both adults we do not need to act...inappropriate … at the office” He stepped closer and his voice lowered to a murmur “ I would love to see what our hotness could do together, trust me when I say you are very much my type”

  Call me crazy but what he was saying was actually making sense to me. Was I actually going to consider this? Hadn't I just said I would try to stay away from him? I watched him as he moved in even closer, raising his hands to clasp the railing behind me and cage my body in in front of him. I smirked a little realizing what he was maneuvering me for and whispered huskily “ Alright, show me what you got and I’ll consider it” I must be out of my mind to even think about trying this but hell a kiss couldn't hurt. Right?

  His lips curled sinfully before he lowered his mouth to mine. Slowly he kissed me, pressing those firm lips to mine, like he was trying to memorize the shape of my mouth with his. He kissed like he had all the time in the world, like this was the prize and he was happy that he had finally got it. He brought his hands to my hips and held me firmly as he dragged his tongue across my bottom lip requesting entry. My thoughts stilled as something felt….off. It was like there was bumps going in a line down the middle of his tongue. I had dated a guy once in college one had a tongue ring...it felt kind of like that but instead of one there was about five. Let's give it a try I thought cause so far this kiss was awesome. I opened my mouth on a sigh meeting his tongue with my own. I felt the tingle all the way to my toes as I brought my arms up around his neck. That delicious feeling you get when something is so very good that you are having for the first time. I didn't even mind the weirdness of the bumps on his tongue, chalking it up to a Selkrian thing. I heard him let out a soft groan as he pulled me in tighter to him, kissing me deeper. We remained like that for a few minutes tongues tangling, mouths moving against one another's until we heard a door slam somewhere below us and pulled apart slowly. He rested his forehead against mine and we exchanged breathes, breathing together slowly. He placed another brief kiss on my lips before whispering “ Will that do?”

  I grinned at him slowly “ Oh yes” I purred “ That will do just fine”. We pulled apart and he reached into his pocket and took out his phone ”Let me have your number” He requested and I quickly rattled it off, watching as he programmed it in. I felt a buzz in my pocket and took out my phone to see he had texted me.

  “Stay after tonight we will be here for maybe a hour. That way we can coordinate our schedules since I know you are attending night classes”

  “No worries about that” I said walking through the door as he held it open for me “ I have just the one class on campus the rest are online” I did majority of my homework and assignments on saturday anyway, as that was my designated day to do all household and school work so that I could fully relax on sunday. He nodded as he walked next to me back down the short distance to the lab door. “ Alright I’ll see you tonight” I smiled at him over my shoulder before going back into the room and heading towards my seat. I could feel a few people looking at me but most was concentrated on their work and wouldn't have cared if the easter bunny had come hopping into the room. I shook my head as I sat back in my seat. I rubbed a thumb over my bottom lip and smiled a little to myself , that kiss had been awesome. If someone had told me two years ago that I would be mooning over my alien boss I would have looked at them funny. But here I was and I couldn't deny that I really was interested in seeing where this could go. I wouldn't lie to myself and say I wanted it to be anything serious and was confident in the fact that he would say the same. I’m just going to lie it out here and be honest, it’s been a long time and he got my motor going in a major way.

  I started going back through the coding and told myself I would just follow his lead and see where this went. Because if he was going my way this could lead to some very good things
.

  Luc

  I sat in my office and downloaded the report the ship had received from the elder in charge of the archives. I was anxious to see what it contained but was also hopeful that it could provide some insight into what the Noctis could be up to. Maybe just maybe it would also offer a chance to reach a truce. While I could defend myself and others with skill, I didn't enjoy bloodshed and didn't care for violence. Any way that we could perhaps achieve peace between our races I would explore fully. I thought about Arianna and felt myself smile. I enjoyed her company so much and The times I managed to sneak in a few kissed only eyed my appetite for more. I had a niggling suspicion that she may be my Ke'Ola but I wasn't sure. I wanted to take things a little slow between us especially now with the threat of the Noctis.

  The computer gave a muted beep, letting me know the download was completed and I turned my attention to the screen. I opened up the file and began to read, soon becoming engrossed in the words of the ancient text.

  Let this be a final accounting of the events that happened between the two ruling houses of Selk. Meeria, Princess of the Selkrians was betrothed to Styan Prince of the Noctis. Their betrothal contract had been written since childhood as each set of parents wished to bring the people of Selk together under one house, one rule. Meeria however had a love of her heart that she wished to be with and as she came of age begin to see him in secret. They were found out two days before the wedding by a retainer of the Noctis who had arrived ahead of the Prince’s court. Outraged by what he had seen he ignored the Princess’s entreaties for pardon and rode hard from the castle to meet Styan’s party upon the road. It was said upon hearing the news of the Princess’s infidelity, his roar of rage echoed across the lands. Driving the horses to near exhaustion he and his court raced to the Selk palace to confront the wayward Princess. The Prince could see all his plans crumbling around him, for it was not the Princess he was interested in winning but the control of all the people of Selk.

  He cared not for what Meeria did but would not let her stand in the way of his ambition. It has long been known that members of the Noctis nobility had access to magic. In those days there were rumours of dark mages, those who twisted what was God's given to them to suite their own dark purposes. There was once a stone that was given to all Selkrian people by the All God, to enhance our natural magics. The Noctis had been tasked with the purpose of wearing small pieces of the stone in order to teach and help the Selkrians harness their own innate gifts. As our magics are buried deep in our blood and often skipped generations, the All God gave us the stone to watch over so that no Noctis would be able to use the stone for evil purposes. This stone known as the God stone is hidden deep in selkrian territory, the precise location of the stone would only be for the Lakai to know and pass down through the generations.

  The God stone had been Styan’s main goal and he would not be denied it. He arrived ahead of his court at the Selkrian palace and dismounted quickly. He tore open the doors of the palace and stalked it’s hall, yelling for his faithless betrothed to show herself. His rage knew no bounds and when Meeria appeared , rushing to his side with excuses tumbling from her lips, he lifted his arm and struck her hard across the face. She crashed to the floor, the blow made even more devastating as he had still been wearing his gauntlets. Guards rushed into the room and drawing their swords formed a circle around Styan. King Rieshart hurried into the room and went to his daughter,gathering her into his arms. Upon seeing the damage that had been done to his daughter, he leveled a malevolent glare upon Styan.

  “The betrothal contract is no more , I will not have one such as yourself in my family!” he thundered. He stood up with his daughter in his arms. “Guards escort this filth from my grounds immediately!” He stepped back to allow the guards to close their circle around Styan, meeting his stare as they begin to prod him from the room. Styan’s teeth ground together audibly sparks of rage literally flowing off his body. “ You will not keep me from what was promised to me! If I cannot have it by wedding your faithless daughter I will take it by force!” He turned and swept from the room saying over his shoulder “You will regret this!”

  And so has it been ever since, with the Noctis steadily pushing our boundaries, testing our defenses, searching for any weakness they could exploit to retrieve what they sought.

  I sat back in my chair and stared unseeingly at the wall opposite me. So that is what started it all he thought I need to inform Kale immediately. I had never known there was a God stone and had never known that Selks carried magic. I knew the Noctis royal family did but all this...it could change everything. I pulled out my phone and called Kale, running scenarios through my mind to see what could possibly be done about this.

  “Hey Luc” Kale greeted me cheerfully

  “ Kale...I have the report back from the archive Elder about what first sparked the fued. It’s not good” I said soberly.

  Kale let out a sigh “Alright, what happened?” I repeated the story to him, reading aloud from the accounting that was in front of him. At the end I sat quietly, allowing Kale his time to think but knowing that Kale knew nothing about the stone either. Perhaps the location had been lost to time as the accounting was thousands of years old. They would need to launch an investigation to determine if their were any rumours or records that say where they stone may be located.

  “This isn't good, The previous Lakai never mentioned anything to be about a God stone. We need to locate it asap.” Kale said soberly “ Send a message to the ship advised the archive elder to search for any further information about this stone and its location”

  “On it” I said sending off the message to the ship.

  “We also need to speak with Lautaro. He’s not as...active..as his father is, perhaps we can reason with him or at the very least see what they want with earth”

  “ That may be hard, The other agents reported that they had lost sight of him after Lael left to follow the others. They did say they saw him with an unrecognized male. Non Human, I have the pictures with me” I replied pulling up the attachment on my phone and sending it over to Kale.

  “I see” Kale murmured presumably looking over the attachment “ Alright see if they can get eyes back on the target and if so if there is a safe way to send him a message, we can see if he will be open to meet with us”

  “ Got it”

  “Keep me posted “ Kale disconnected the call and I leaned back in my chair thinking hard. Contrary to what some Humans may believe magic had existed on earth in the past and with the exception of some very old, very sacred places, magic was almost non existent now. Perhaps that was what they were searching for, those trace amounts of magic to bolster what they already had. It would be a good idea to dispatch a few of our warriors to the sites we knew held magic to keep an eye out for any activity.

  It's been one month since I started the internship. Between that and school I barely had time for sleep. I was at Autonomous from 9am to 6pm including the time I spent helping Luc with the app and had to go straight to school for two hours worth of night classes. All I usually had time for was to crash into bed at the end of the day, I ran around like a crazy chicken on saturdays to do my homework and household errands and then I would take sunday to relax. It would be worth it in the end though. I was learning so much with the internship and I was really enjoying being back in school. My teachers had already recommended me to take the honors classes next semester, saying that I was already ahead of what they were teaching in class.

  I was working on my plans for going back to my hometown for a weekend next month and I already had the time off approved. I was really excited to visit mama and tell her about the progress I had made and let her know everything that was going on. Silly I know but I really loved talking to her , it was like she was there with me and it made the pain of losing her a little more bearable. There was just one thing though that I didn't know how to feel about. I had been out three more times with Luc, Mia and Kale.Everytime we were alone and about
to leave the parking lot we held back and chatted some more. There had been more kisses but nothing any heavier than what we had did in the stairwell, I had even gotten used to his tongue. I didn't know if he was waiting for me to indicate I wanted more or if he was just going slow but at this point I was ready to take matters into my own hands. I had to admit Luc didn't seem to be the jetsetting playboy I had originally thought he was and I could also admit I enjoyed our talks. He had such a fascinating mind and always had something interesting to say. Like once he told me that Selkrai, their home world, had two suns. As a result their side of the planet had longer days and shorter nights they were more of a diurnal species. While on the other side of the planet, their sun was small so they had shorter days and longer nights and were nocturnal. I had joked with him and said that it sounded like vampires shared their planet. He had a curious reaction though, forcing a smile and saying that I may be right.

  I loved our talks and certainly appreciated the eye candy but I couldn't let anything distract me from fulfilling my dreams. Right now this was a huge distraction and I was toying with the idea of making a...scandalous...suggestion. Well it was a bit scandalous to me in any case. As this first month was over I had another 2 weeks with r&d before I was transferred to product testing for a month and then back to r&d for the remainder of my time. I usually wasn't the type of girl into casual relationships and had never had a one night stand. From what Jenny had told me it seemed like that was all Luc was really interested in. Besides what would I even do with a alien long term? I could barely keep a plant alive let alone deal with a whole nother person. What I was thinking though was to propose just that to Luc. One night maybe two so that I could get this out my system and go back to focusing on what was really important.