“And soon we will be able to get rid of the little vermin,” Za’alua sighed, stretching leisurely.
And the throne will rightfully be passed to me. Soran laughed darkly before walking away, heading toward the one place where their preparations were all but completed.
Chapter 16
The following few weeks passed with an impressive speed that Andrea had not expected, considering their length. It was a flurry of actions, and planning that moved them ahead into a swift approach and Andrea was becoming more and more nervous about her incoming wedding night.
It was also strange to mention that in all the time she had been with Dom, he had never once truly proposed to her, but she figured it had to do with the fact that their cultural differences were so great that it never occurred to him. Still, he had been in her planet for twenty four Rusneon years—the equivalent of eight hundred Earth years—so it was sort of hard to believe that he wouldn’t have caught on to the custom.
Dinner and conversation with Soran and his bride was awkward at best, bizarre at worst. She began to wonder if they were engaging in intimate activities for the sole sake of making her uncomfortable.
Andrea had drawn the line when not long after conversation had settled into a “pleasant” silence that Za’alua suddenly pulled Soran’s chair back to dig her fingers into his robes and begin to pump at his cock. Soran had leaned back, his lips parting as her scarlet fingers rose up and down on his length.
Dom had simply turned his attention elsewhere—to a document that Andrea had come to know as the local newspaper (despite Dom saying it was nothing close to one)—and seemed to tune out to his brother’s sounds of pleasure.
Andrea couldn’t do it anymore and stood up, letting out a small noise of distress as she walked off, no longer caring if she seemed rude.
The more she was alone, however, the more she found that her mind could do more and more. She was learning to catch on to the Common Link, being able to hear thoughts and words and feelings being exchanged back and forth between the Rusnean citizens.
Yet, the more she could hear and listen to (a weird way to describe it considering she was never actually hearing anything), the more she could feel the fluttering in her thigh and that strange feeling descend over her mind.
At one point she remembered seeing two people conversing, as well as motioning to a series of goods that Andrea couldn’t tell were for, but she could catch how their conversation was going. For the most part, they exchanged polite and respectful words despite one of them feeling like the other was charging too much for a particular artifact.
The more Andrea focused, the more she found herself curious to see if the one feeling wronged were to grow even more indignant and call out the other—since that was more often the case back on earth.
To her surprise, the wronged party, a Rusnean male of a bright pink tone of hair and deep blue skin color, suddenly grabbed the other, another of green skin and copper hair, and threw him to the ground. Suddenly, the male began to shout and that attracted an alarmed scene of people towards them.
It was surprising to note that all of the people clearly disliked anything remotely violent, chastising the pink haired male. More surprising was seeing how the male suddenly appeared taken aback, as though they had never intended to overreact in the way they did and quickly apologized before walking away.
Andrea felt surprised; unable to shake off the feeling that she knew why he had overreacted. She knew why the behavior had changed.
Had she been capable of influencing him?
But that was ridiculous, she had no spectacular abilities and she was barely learning how to tune in to the CL. Yet, the fluttering in her thigh only made her more suspicious and Andrea had no other option but to consider the possibility.
She had attempted to speak to Dom about it, but the very idea of it seemed so ludicrous… no. She’d keep this to herself for now. Cleary, she needed to gather more evidence in order to bring this ability into a better understanding.
And so, Andrea spent her days working on harnessing this strange power and before long, there was only two weeks before the Night of her wedding. All the while, her suspicions on Soran, Dom’s younger brother, continued to rise.
Each day that passed and each night that was shared brought forth vibes that confused and even worried her, yet Dom would have none of it.
In time, all Andrea could do was keep an eye on Soran and hope for the best.
Until one night.
The stars above were far more iridescent than back on earth, and Andrea had spent many hours staring into the heavens and counting new constellations and completely different stories behind them.
In her hands she held to a tome, similar to a book from her home, yet it was constructed of a film of curious material that felt watery in her fingers and glowed whenever she pressed her fingers against its words.
Within her eyes she was shown the swirling constellations and their meanings, stories of love and sensuality were among the favorites but it wasn’t bizarre to hear of war heroes being cast upon the stars as well.
Dom usually spent his time at her side, pointing up at the many diamonds cast about the glowing sky and telling her stories of his youth, stories that occurred several hundred years before she was born.
Other times, Dom would tempt her by making love with her beneath the romantic night, making her scream and cry to the air with abandon while the skies showed shooting stars and meteor showers that left her in awe.
This time however, Dom was not with her, busy with the preparations of the ascension of the throne and their wedding night. He had pressed a kiss to her mouth and then departed, leaving her to gaze at the stars alone.
She sighed, leaning back and running her fingers through her hair and tugging the strands into small braids. She was still so unsure of what to do with Soran, and she felt disheartened that Dom would shrug off her concerns so easily, even if he did claim to know Soran for much longer.
The door of their room suddenly opened and closed and when Andrea turned around, she saw Dom standing at the threshold, watching her with a cool stare.
Andrea gave him a smile before pressing the tome down and moving toward him.
“Hey,” she greeted softly, “I thought you were going to be busy for a long time.”
“I got off a little early,” he said, but there was something in his voice that sounded a little weird.
“Are you alright?” She asked, frowning, lifting a hand to his cheek. “You sound like you could be catching a cold… do Rusneans catch colds?”
Dom smiled and shook his head, “Sorry,” he said, clearing his throat and the weird note disappeared.
“It’s just stress, but I do know of a way to calm down.” He added with a raise of his brow. Andrea began to smile back, letting him pull her into an embrace and a kiss.
What happy thoughts she had disappeared when she felt his mouth land on hers, wrapping around her lips unusually. It wasn’t until then that she realized she couldn’t feel his usual mental presence in her mind.
Andrea had half a mind to shove him off, but his grip suddenly became vice-like and constricting, forcing her mouth open to probe her mouth with his tongue.
Andrea returned the kiss with surprise, unsure and feeling weirdly faint. He carried her to the bed, pressing kiss after hard kiss against her lips and making her groan somewhat uncomfortably. It wasn’t until they both fell on the mattress that Andrea finally needed to get him off of her.
“Dom—” Andrea began, trying to shove him off, but his hips were already rocking hard against her core and making her whimper.
With a great growl, Andrea managed to wedge her elbow between him and her chest. When she pulled away, she was met with bright pink irises. Andrea felt her insides grow cold.
“Nothing special about you at all,” Dom spoke, but his voice was no longer his own, it was Za’alua’s.
“Za’alua?” Andrea gasped, feeling horrified and terribly confuse
d.
Za’alua grinned, her lips curling hideously while masked in Dom’s face. To Andrea’s shock, she began to change until she could feel Za’alua’s body—not Dom’s—resting over hers.
“Oh, don’t mind me,” Za’alua sighed brightly.
“I’m just gathering some important research.”
“What the hell are you doing?!” Andrea squeaked with surprise as she pulled away.
“Like I said,” Za’alua giggled before beginning to get closer to Andrea’s ears. “Gathering important research. I need to hear you moan and scream, Andrea. But don’t misunderstand, it’s not because I want to…” and then Za’alua was letting out a soft noise through her throat that tickled in Andrea’s ears and suddenly made her feel strange and fuzzy.
Her body began to react, as though she had been plugged into an aphrodisiac of potent power. “But because I need to make sure my act is convincing.”
Andrea gasped, drawing out noises and sighs that the scarlet woman repeated in her ears almost completely uncannily.
“Don’t worry,” Za’alua laughed softly, “It won’t feel bad at all. I’m rather skilled in the art of pleasure, A’ndrea. The effects of this spell will be over in a moment.”
Suddenly, Andrea arched and gasped tightly, her mind trying to shake off the weird spell that was making her writhe and wish to succumb to the sensations.
Andrea bit down hard on her lip, trying not to scream in wanton desire. She threw her head back and cried out. This is… wrong! So wrong! She tried to shove the feeling off, but her body was overcome by the sensations.
“There,” Za’alua snickered, “that wasn’t so bad, was it?”
Andrea blinked up lazily, feeling strange and sick. “Get away… from me…” she muttered weakly.
“Not to worry,” Za’alua grinned.
“So naive,” Za’alua muttered. “How are you so naive? It’s almost disgusting.”
“Oh well, not much I can do about that. I’ll see what I can do about making myself sound more like you.”
“What…?” Andrea gasped. The scarlet woman nodded gleefully.
“I suppose it would be okay to tell you, now that I have you within my spell,” she said.
“If you haven’t guessed already, I’m a Changeling, or shape shifter, whichever you prefer.”
“You see, Soran has become mighty desperate to become the king of Rusneon, and we can’t exactly have that if you and your beloved Dom are in the picture. See, there is this wonderful little stipulation that comes with mating with a Warrior, do you know what that is?”
Andrea shook her head, her mouth feeling dry from the effects of that weird experience. Andrea panted, trying to calm her racing heart while the other woman continued to talk.
“When you mate with a Warrior, he and only he must continue to mate with you. Now, you are human, so you having sex with say… I don’t know, Soran or someone else, would do nothing to you—fascinating little thing about you humans, you can have as many partners as you want without any damage to your life. But if say, someone, like me, for instance, were to take your shape, like so…”
Za’alua’s face morphed and Andrea let out a sharp gasp, seeing her own face reflect back at her with a wicked grin.
“And seduce your tasty little future mate, well, what bond is created with you will shatter and poor big brother Dom will die.” Andrea felt her stomach fall deeper into the ground, her eyes wide with shock.
“And you, my dear, will die along with him.”
“N-no,” Andrea shook her head, “You’re lying.”
“Wouldn’t that just be quaint?” Za’alua asked, her voice suddenly sounding just like hers.
“But no, not a lie. I’m guessing Dom never warned you about the fine print when it came to mating, did he? He would never be able to have sex or mate with anyone else, lest you both die a pretty pathetic death. It’s almost funny.”
“Ahh,” Za’alua sighed, and it seemed as if she was casting another spell on Andrea.
“I have to admit, you human females may not be that special, but you certainly do feel emotions on another level.”
“S-stop!” Andrea begged, already feeling another stream of weird sensations beginning to climb over her senses.
“Not yet!” Za’alua giggled, “I’ve got to hear you cry out one more time! Come on, little one, do it for Dom.”
“N-no!”
The sensations were too much for Andrea and she began screaming, struggling with the unwanted sensations of weird pleasure. When Andrea came back down from her high, her eyes were spilling with tears.
“Is it done?” Andrea heard Soran’s voice. When she blinked up through her tears, she could see him staring down at her hungrily.
“All ready,” Za’alua replied with a nod, her body completely changed from scarlet to human pink, and her hair was gone from silver to a strawberry blonde. She looked exactly like Andrea, and sounded like her as well.
“Let’s hear it,” Soran said.
Za’alua smiled before parting her lips and letting out a simple moan, it sounded exactly like Andrea. Soran grinned.
“Perfect. You will stay here, make sure that you do the deed accordingly. You, on the other hand,” he pointed at Andrea and sauntered over toward her, grabbing on to her jaw and lifting her as easily as lifting a kitten. Andrea could do nothing but blink weakly up at him.
“You are coming with me.”
Chapter 17
She was deep inside a dark place, alive with nothing but a little food and water that Soran himself had given to her. To her relief, he had not tried to force himself on her, but knowing him, it was only a matter of time.
Andrea had wept her grief into a pillow for hours after she had been thrown in that tiny little hole, and no matter how hard she had tried to fight back or find a way out, her efforts had proven futile.
Za’alua’s ambush had left her feeling incredibly weak, and she didn’t know why until after Soran appeared just one night before the incoming wedding night.
“You are so sad,” Soran chuckled after Andrea glanced up from her cot, exhausted and her fingers reduced to bloody nubs. “It’s almost pitiful.”
“Go away, traitor.” Andrea hissed, “I have nothing to say to you.”
“Then say nothing,” Soran shrugged. “Because I am here to watch you die when the deed is done.”
“Dom will never fall for it!” Andrea snarled, “She’s nothing like me! He’ll see through her—”
“Like he saw through me?” Soran asked, delighted.
“Fat chance, my dear. You see, Za’alua isn’t just a changeling, she’s the best there is. She is capable of deceiving even the most resolute of mind. She managed to get you, easily enough.”
“No,” Andrea shook her head. “I saw through her, right after she pretended to be Dom, I knew she wasn’t him.”
“Perhaps,” he didn’t sound impressed.
“But have you considered that she was playing you all along? And you might have seen through it but not nearly fast enough to defy her mind control. She was able to very easily drug you with a simple song, and you could do nothing but succumb to your own body’s needs. Although, that wasn’t so bizarre either… considering.”
“What do you mean?” Andrea frowned.
Soran’s face darkened into a lewd grin, “Has Dom ever told you about our common ancestors? The Ma’uranians?”
The name rang a bell and Andrea stared up into Soran’s eyes with surprise. “So he has… well, perhaps you don’t know this, but I looked into your composition, Andrea. I delved deep into the history of your blood—it was so easy after Za’alua managed to cast that spell on you. And you won’t believe what I’ve found. Can you guess?”
He didn’t give her time to even think. “You, little bug, have a very strange yet potent Ma’uranian signature in your genetic makeup, not enough to really do much, but enough to make you strangely capable of becoming mated with my brother. That’s not to say you’re ord
inary, but you see, given the opportunity, this hidden potential within you could very well make your connection with my brother one of the strongest ever seen…it’s a good thing we managed to get you away from him when we did. Otherwise, that would have been a nightmare.”
“My connection with Dom is strong!” Andrea shouted.
“It’s stronger than you think already. So what you think you’re the only one who knows? Dom probably knows too!”
“A pretty sentiment,” Soran mocked, “But my brother had never been the brightest around.”
“Dom will know,” Andrea said resolutely, yet her heart was wavering. “He will know, and your plan will fall to pieces.”
Soran snickered, shaking his head before turning around, “Goodbye, little bug. I look forward to seeing that hope vanish from your eyes.”
When he shut the door, Andrea nearly lunged for him, but she tripped and fell over to her face and she was left sobbing once more. She had no other option but to believe in Dom, and despite how far she felt she was, she tried desperately to connect to him.
Through the Link, Andrea searched and searched, trying to send out a message, a cry for help. But she had no idea where she was, and Dom’s presence was as distant to her as earth.
For the first time since Andrea arrived, she felt completely and terribly alone in the universe.
--
Dom couldn’t shake the strangeness, something wasn’t quite right. Yet the more he was with Andrea, the more he was convinced he was clearly mistaken. She was as she always was, fiery and defiant when they were alone, but subtle and demure in public. Each kiss she pressed to his lips felt perfect, save one thing…
It didn’t feel right.
But how could that be? They were mated, their souls intertwined, their bodies far too tuned to one another… so why was it that when she brought him close, all he wanted was to pull away.
Alien Romance: Rusneon Mates Boxed Set: A Scifi Alien Abduction Romance (Alien Romance, Alien Invasion Romance, BBW) Page 14