“Hale, you need more than that to become a forever couple. You have to love me and I have to return that love.”
“Do you love me, Tori?”
“You can’t ask me that, Hale. We haven’t known each other long enough. Heck, you’re supposed to be the one scared of commitment.”
“Who made that rule?’
“I don’t know, I just know that men who are young are usually scared.”
“I’m not young.”
“Stop. I don’t want to know how old you are.”
He reached out and caressed the side of her face. “Who’s afraid of commitment?”
She got up without replying and grabbed a change of clothes from the bedroom before entering the bathroom.
He may be an alien, but that doesn’t give him the right to think he knows everything. Her inner voice fumed and paced back and forth across her mind.
“I agree,” she said aloud to make herself feel better. How dare he think she was afraid of commitment?
She worked hard on her business, even when she knew it was going to go up in flames. Hadn’t she committed to planning Lorali and Sergey’s wedding even though she should be far away by now. She was committed to her family. Then her parents died one after the other leaving her alone.
What did commitment get you? Loneliness. Everyone she ever loved left her. What would make her think he would be any different?
Damn, she was afraid of commitment. Sighing she finished bathing.
The room was empty when entered it. How was she going to tell him he was right without making a declaration of commitment? She picked out a nice dress hoping it would help to bolster her self-confidence.
“Hale?” She called out his name as she walked down the stairs.
“In the game room.”
She walked in to find him seated on a loveseat facing a huge screen with a light-weight head set on.
“What are you doing?”
“Playing a new version of a video game I am thinking of releasing. It is in beta testing right now.”
She walked over to take a seat next to him. The screen was flashing with images that were so life-like she had to look twice to make sure it wasn’t a movie.
“Are you controlling the Avatar with your mind?”
“Yes. That’s why it is still in the beta testing phase. After I’m sure all the plot points interact appropriately, and the game is seamless then I will convert it over to a controller.”
“Hale, I am impressed. I don’t play often, but I have never seen anything like this.”
“Thanks.” He gave her a swift smile. “Are you hungry?”
“No. I think I am still full from the late night dinner we ate.”
He gave her a wicked smile. “I thought I managed to burn all those calories off.”
She blushed. What was she going to do with him? The longer she was around him the more addictive he became.
“Would you like to visit my planet?”
The sudden knot in her throat had her tensing up. Did he mean leaving the earth, as in taking a space ship?
“As in space: the final frontier?”
“Something like that.” He laughed causing her to smile and her heart to race. “Except we will do it with these.” He showed her another Virtual Reality headset.
She took a deep breath calming down her crazy heartbeat. A part of her wanted to leave the planet with him, to never look back. The thought of making the choice to be with him forever made her feel free in a way she never felt. She kicked that thought away before she nodded her head.
“I would like to visit your world. Will that headset work for me?”
“It will work.”
“How? What I mean is I don’t have any special mental ability.”
“I believe this head set would work for at least thirty percent of the population. Humans are developing the ability to use more of their brain without realizing.”
“Then why won’t it work for everyone?”
“My theory is because most will deny the ability to reach deeper into who they are. If you want an official or scientific reason you will need to talk to Nicholas or Dante.”
“Ok. Beam me up, Scotty.” He flashed a smile at her as he adjusted the head set on her.
“There’s a couple of things you need to know first. Although this is A VR game we are going to be using a different aspect of it. Your body will stay here, but everything else will walk through the connection I establish. If you were to die there you would die. No reboot no coming back to fight another day.”
“Am I or my brothers impossible? Tori believe me, there is a plane that can be walked on that has nothing to do with what we call physical reality. You will be in memories, but those memories will be playing out as if they are happening because they are. There is no need to be scared. You simply need to understand if I say no it’s for a reason.”
“Can all of you do this?”
“No just a few select and some that have been chosen. I was chosen and that’s all I can say. Do you still wish to go?”
She nodded her head, more now than ever she wanted to unravel the puzzle that was Hale.
“It will take a few minutes to connect with the mental energy you are giving out.”
Tori closed her eyes and waited for the headset to link up with her. Hale was giving her a new insight into her world. She hadn’t had this much fun in a long time her inner voice whispered. She agreed with herself, she didn’t want to lose it or Hale.
She opened her eyes to a blank screen. A wave of despair covered her when she realized all she could see was black. She must not be one of those humans who could look within themselves.
“Hale.” Her voice sounded sad.
“Stay still, Tori. I am coming for you.”
“What?” The voice echoed around her mind never touching her ears. It was Hale’s voice without the richness she had become used to. This voice left her cold adding to the coldness taking root inside of her.
“Stay quiet.”
She zipped her lips. What was happening? Not only couldn’t she see the screen before her she couldn’t see the room. If she didn’t know better she would think that she suddenly lost the use of her eyes. The bright light cutting through the darkness had her squinting and trying to shield her eyes.
“Do you see my hand, Tori?”
The light distracted her from trying to use her eyes making all of her other senses hyper aware. That was when she realized she wasn’t hearing Hale with her ears. He was talking directly into her mind.
“Tori, focus this is important. Do you see my hand?”
“Yes,” she stuttered a little.
“Take it and hang on tight. Don’t let go, no matter what happens.”
She moved closer to his hand. The terrain was rocky and finding a stable spot to place her feet was rare. She spent what felt like hours crossing little patches at a time. He never moved his hand, never wavered. She was close enough. She reached up brushing his fingertips and flinched as a sensation of coldness moved through her body before she was attacked.
A powerful force hit her back making her stumble and fall. The jagged terrain was rushing upwards as she was grabbed and turned over landing on something hard.
“Tori.” Hale’s hand caressed her face.
“Hale, what happened?” Her voice shook as she turned her head to where the hand should have been only to find it gone.
“My game was hacked.”
“Hacked? Who could hack a VR game like this?”
“The tainted Created.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Over the past year we have become aware that something was stalking us. He threw off our senses because we sensed it was a Created, but every whiff of him or encounter with him seemed wrong. Not even Aran could pinpoint the wrongness. Recently he revealed himself to Sergey. Now we know who he is. He has hated us for as long as we have existed. None of us know why. He is the only one who could hack the game.”
>
“Why would he do this? How did he speak into my mind and make it sound like your voice?”
“He wanted you. He has gone after every Created mate, now he wants you. As far as making his voice sound like mine it was easy because your filtering program was tampered with. By the way I have fixed that. The VR headsets allows direct mental communication. I have fixed that also. You are talking directly to me on a channel that is secure. I blocked all other channels while enhancing and refining your hearing in the game. Anyone other than me will have to actually talk to you and your ears will filter out any voice that is being enhanced or changed.”
“Maybe we should just leave?”
“We will as soon as we find the door. He has disabled the normal exit procedure.”
“Hale?”
“Tori, are you scared?”
“I think I would be a fool if I said no. Having said that, I trust you. I know you will protect me and lead me to safety.”
“Thank you, Tori. Your trust in both of us is priceless.”
She leaned down and kissed him. She wanted to keep him. Maybe he would want to move someplace warm?
“What do we do now?”
“We get out of this cave.” He stood up cradling her in his arms. Do you think you can walk if I put you down?”
“Sure, just a proverbial walk in the park.” He shook his head and sat her down.
“Grab onto me. I want to keep my hands free in case I need them. This will help.” He reached out and grabbed a huge sword that just seemed to appear.
“I designed the game, believe me I am never helpless in it. Next time I will make sure you have a weapon. I don’t want to chance it right now.”
“Ok. I’m ready.”
He started moving off in the opposite direction of the hand that reached for her.
“I thought the exit was in the other direction.”
“No. If I was the tainted Created I would make sure nothing but certain death was there.”
“Oh.”
“Tori, I would never let him get to you.”
“Tell me about this world you wanted to show me.”
“This is the world of the dominant male portion of my DNA. Each Created has the same mother but different combinations of male DNA. It makes each of us different.”
They moved slowly uphill. The rocks under her feet were jagged, looking down she found she was wearing hiking boots. The cute little dress she was wearing when she entered the game was gone, replaced with a pair of well-worn jeans. The shirt was wearing was cute and sensible. Had she dressed herself or had Hale conjured up her outfit? Either way she looked like she fit into the terrain.
“Tell me about his world. Is it someplace you like to visit and how do you know about it?”
“We have the ability to access every memory of the DNA used to create us. Some we can access at will because they are so close to the surface, others are much harder to gain access to. This male’s memory is close to the surface. He is also part of my dominant male DNA.”
“Tell me about him.”
Hale reached out into the darkness in front of him. He leaned into it pushing. The darkness gave way to light as he led her out of the cave.
“You did it.” She reached up and kissed him. “Where are we?”
Chapter Seventeen
She stood on a beach. The sand glinted gold under the light from the moons. There were three in the sky making her breath catch in wonder. The water was a clear blue, she could see the sand at the bottom of it.
“It’s beautiful here. It’s amazing to think there are other planets out there that not only have life, but have places that would make you want to move to them.”
“The galaxies are amazing. One day your people will find out just how amazing.”
“Too bad I won’t be around to see that.”
“You never know what your future holds.”
She frowned at him. “Are we safe here?”
“For now. I built some traps around the beach before we got here. It will take the tainted one time to break through them.”
“Should we start looking for the door out?”
“Not yet. The doors are on a timer and only appear at certain intervals. We have lots of time.”
“Oh. I think I am beginning to sound like a broken record.” She laughed at herself. “What should we do?”
“I have an idea.” He walked towards her as his body shifted. He became taller and thicker. He was still humanoid in appearance just not exactly human looking.
“Is that your natural body?” her voice trembled as her nipples began to harden. He attracted her no matter how he looked.
“Yes. Because we are shape shifters with the same essential humanoid shape as humans it was not too difficult to get our bodies to take on a more human look. It did take time and practice to make it natural. Does my natural look repel you?”
“No, quite the opposite. I believe I would be attracted to you no matter what shape you take on.”
“So if I were a snake?”
“Eww. Can you do that?”
His body rocked with laughter. “No, I can’t do that.”
She reached up to smack his arm, instead she ending up sliding her hand down the increased muscles.
“So what did you have in mind?” she asked lowering her voice to a silky purr.
“Have you ever made love on a beach? Not quite as kinky as a swing set, but…”
“But something I have always wanted to do.”
“Good.” The husky sound of his voice had her body wanting to be stoked. His voice had the power to capture her. She would always come to the sound of him calling her name.
He pulled her into his arms, lowering his head to kiss her. “You taste like a substance on my planet that made your heart light and your body tight with need.”
“It made you aroused?”
He nibbled her neck causing shivers to slide down her spine.
“No.” He whispered into her ear. His erotic voice caused her core to ache with need. “It left us with the need to fight. Our bodies were hard with the need for action. If I were to drink it now I believe it would simply increase my desire for you, if that is possible.”
He pulled her closer with one arm, letting his tongue plunder her mouth as his other hand came up to pull on one hard nipple. She cried out grinding her body against his.
“Mate. He murmured as he nipped at her shoulder holding his other side back.
“Hale?”
“I want to mark you, Tori. I want to bite you and permanently make you mine. Tie you so close to me that you will never be able to leave my side. Tell me it’s wrong. You should be fighting to get away from me instead of pushing your hot core onto me.”
“Hale, I…”
He bit a little harder before forcing himself away from the heat of her throat.
“What do you want, Tori?”
“Time. I need just a little more to make sure the decision I make is right for me. I can’t do that now, Hale. Not when I am going up in flames and need you deep in me. Can you give me that?”
He caught her head making her look directly into his eyes. She blinked fast when she saw nothing but love reflected in his eyes and the eyes of his other side. They loved her. The only question left was did she love them as much as they loved her.
“Yes.”
He reached out taking the hem of his shirt and pulling it over his head in one smooth move. She almost swallowed her tongue as his chest came into view. If she thought his chest was defined before she had been wrong. He was a beautiful contrast of symmetry and hard planes.
She bent down to untie her boots before pulling each one off. Her feet sank into the sand.
“Umm. The sand feels so good. It’s almost orgasmic under my feet.”
He gave her a wide knowing smile. “This planet is different from most. The beings here are very careful to keep outsiders away. As far as I know no one is allowed to land on the planet who was not born here fo
r the very reason you just observed. The planet is very orgasmic for those of humanoid shape.”
“How very interesting.” She continued to strip until she wore nothing but the glazed look in her eyes and a welcoming smile.
Hale stripped quickly. She locked her eyes on his thick cock now fully erect. It was wider and a little longer. She licked her lips wanting another taste.
“Will you fit?”
“Like a glove.”
She winked at him and dropped to her knees. She let out a sigh of ecstasy as she hit the sand, her body reacted to it as if she’d been caressed from head to toe. She could stay here forever. Looking up she smiled at him before opening her mouth and swallowing as much of him as possible.
His sounds of pleasure swamped her senses as she began to suck and lick on him. She moved her head back and forth as she took him deep getting his essence deep into her throat.
“You taste like the most decadent dessert. Good thing I like desserts,” she said as she stuck her tongue out to lick him from tip to base.”
He moaned louder, clutching her hair as she took him back in her mouth working him up and down.
“Tori.” Her name escaped as a cry for more as he spread his legs trying to keep his trembling limbs upright.
“You like, baby?” Her voice was husky.
“I love. I need to be deep inside of you.” His voice was deep with need.
She gave a laugh mixed with a need growl of her own. “I am not done yet.”
“Tori. I. Need. To. Be. In. You!”
“What are you waiting for?”
He reached out and placed her flat on her back allowing the sand to envelope her driving her need higher. He watched as the brown of her eyes darkened with her passion. Her body would deepen to accommodate his as she laid in the sand.
“You are so beautiful, mate. On the inside as well as the outside. He covered her body finding the heat of her center immediately.
With a shift of his hips and a deep stroke he slid all the way in. The desperate whimpers she let out caused him to pull out and plunge back in again.
Hale: Love Me Harder - Alien Paranormal Romance Page 11