Savage Alien

by Stella Sky

  “Yes.”

  “Does that mean Earth is out of the question?” Alice asked, leaning against the wall and staring at me with eyes that did not tolerate any dishonesty whatsoever.

  “No. I will take you to Earth.”

  “How are you going to do that if you are leaving me behind?” Alice demanded.

  “I will have the Federation rescue all humans,” I said, not knowing whether or not this was even possible. “And I will take you with me so that you aren’t stuck on this planet another moment longer. All right?”

  Alice seemed stunned by this and nodded slowly. “You’re going to take me to Earth?”

  “It’s right on the way to Yala,” I lied, kicking myself for doing so. Why was I still so reluctant to let her go?

  “You would really do this for me?” she whispered.

  Again, she looked so sincere at the moment that I nearly wanted to tell her the truth. No, I did not want to take her to Earth. No, I was going to take her to Yala and see to it that she had the life she deserved with me as her mate for all of time. Nothing was on my mind more than this human. I could still feel the trace of her fingertips against my skin when I closed my eyes at times, and the thought of never smelling the sweetness of her breath again filled me with anguish. She would see one day that I had done the right thing. And when that day came, we would be one.

  “You are going with me when the first ship arrives. I don’t care who says otherwise.”

  “Thank you!” Alice exclaimed, running up to me and throwing her arms around my neck.

  I held her close, my mind at odds with my body. I knew I did not deserve this affection, but I also knew that leaving the human here was not an option. She was going to love the planet Yala. Some creatures just couldn’t make a home in the place where they were born, and she didn’t seem to understand that life could be better for her somewhere else.

  She was not going to like what I was doing. Not by a long shot. But I was going to make sure that she was able to have the perfect life. It was my duty. She was my human. I had claimed her, and in that mind-blowing night of passion, she had surrendered herself to me, body and soul, and my kind took that kind of vow seriously. She was going to listen to my wisdom and hear the truth in my words one day. Even if it meant that, until then, she was going to hate me.

  ***

  “What the hell is this?”

  “Lauren! What are you doing here?” Alice asked, her beautiful face perplexed.

  The ship had finally arrived, and with it came the obnoxious group of human women once again. Apparently, they had followed us all the way through the forest until we had come upon my crew and ship, and had been keeping an eye on us from a distance.

  “These people have to take us home. We don’t belong here!” Lauren shouted, running forward to try to get close to the ship. A Raither gripped her shoulder and prevented her from moving any further, and Alice pursed her lips.

  “You belong here more than these guys do!” Alice said. “They crashed. They never killed anyone!”

  “We never did either!” Lauren exclaimed. “Just what are you thinking? Did these freaks brainwash you or something?”

  Alice glared.

  “It just so happens that they are wonderful. And they’re taking me to Earth.”

  “You can’t be serious. We all deserve a chance to go home.”

  “Maybe if you back off a little, I will put in a good word with the Committee to get you girls back home,” Alice said.

  She was playing with fire, burning the bridges she had left remaining with the humans on Hexa, but I admired her for it. I had never been prouder to have claimed her.

  “No,” Lauren said, shaking her head and struggling against the force of the Raither who was constraining her. “What you’re going to do is tell these guys to let us on that ship!”

  But Alice stood her ground, her hands folded over her chest.

  “That is not an option,” she said firmly. “You can wait here patiently for the next ship out of here. I’m done waiting. I helped to make this happen. Don’t you get that? I deserve a way out.”

  Lauren opened her mouth to reply again, but the pilot of the ship stepped out, silencing us all.

  “We are ready to board,” he said, casting a cold, steely look out over us, clearly unimpressed with the scene. “Those of you who are leaving today, stand in a single file line. You will be seated one by one, starting with Commander Kecha Thornax.”

  Hearing my name being spoken from the pilot’s lips snapped me into action, and I quickly rounded up the crew members I had chosen to bring back to Yala with me. When they were ready, I walked up to Alice, who was still exchanging an electric hot glare with the other, more disagreeable human.

  “Come,” I said, touching her shoulder gently. “It is time for us to leave.”

  As I led her toward the ship, I could hear the shouts and protests of the other human females, and the crowd of Raithers who stepped in to keep them at bay. My men were strong, much stronger than a few pesky humans, and soon we were all boarding the ship, leaving the noise of the planet Hexa behind us.

  ***

  “I can’t believe this is really happening!” Alice exclaimed, taking her seat beside me in the small ship. It had been able to enter Hexa’s atmosphere undetected, but we had to leave quickly lest that change.

  Every once in a while, huge Federation ships would come in. They employed a brawny race known as the Urgs to maintain the planet and orchards, and man the vessels that deposited the most brutish creatures onto the planet Hexa. The Urgs were virtually featureless, like large, mechanical beings made of terracotta clay. They had square heads, with no discernable eyes or mouths, and a broad torso with huge rectangular arms that were strong enough to pick up one of the terrible red Jorgans where they stood and place them carefully into the habitat on Hexa that might best suit them.

  They were a surprisingly gentle breed, prone to landscaping and other forms of botany, and as such made the perfect candidates to man the savage planet and ensure that it was able to maintain its purpose effectively.

  I had expected an Urg to be manning the ship, quite frankly, but the Federation’s resources were limited. Urgs wouldn’t be available for a mission for another few weeks; they were all required to be back on their home planet to observe their Veshna ceremony, apparently a time-honored and family-oriented tradition that happened only once every third generation.

  “Let’s go,” I ordered. The ship’s engines rumbled to life, and I gazed out at the group of Raithers that I was leaving behind. They all looked happy and hopeful, except for the ones who were still fighting with the mob of humans, but I couldn’t help but feel nervous on their behalf. It would be another week at least before they were rescued, and yet the hope and trust on their faces was unmistakable. They all believed that fate was on their side, and I didn’t have the heart to tell them that without tenacity and pure willpower, none of this would have been possible.

  I had brought along a few other crew members, as many as we could fit in the ship with us, most of which were young and homesick, or malnourished from trying to conserve the food on the ship by sticking to a diet of fruit and berries. Fortunately, they would be all right with a little bit of time and medical attention on Yala. The entire ship was all of two rooms: a cabin and an engine room. We were all crowded inside behind the pilot’s seat in a circle, making it nearly impossible not to touch somebody else no matter which way we moved.

  And yet, the human was happier than I had ever seen her before, her beautiful eyes shimmering in excitement as we prepared to launch.

  “I’ve never been able to see out the window before,” Alice said, sitting beside me. We were intimately close to one another, as the ship was crowded, and I turned to her to smile. I loved the way her face glowed with excitement, even if that excitement was soon going to be bitter disappointment. But she was going to understand that I had her best interests at heart. I had to believe that.

  “
It is going to be beautiful beyond words,” I told her. “Make sure that you close your eyes during lightspeed, though. You may end up feeling sick, and I don’t need you losing your stomach’s contents all over me. This is a small ship, and the smell would affect everybody.”

  She laughed lightly and gripped my hand in hers, bringing a hot, thunderous desire throughout my body. It was hard for me to keep from acting upon it. All I did was close my hand around hers and allow myself to appreciate the closeness of her body and the warmth it brought to me on the last legs of the voyage.

  The idea of returning to my planet was extremely satisfying, as well as knowing that I had found my crew and had provided them with an avenue of escape. However, most satisfying of all was knowing that I was returning home with a prize: a human with whom I could spend the rest of my days.

  I could only hope that I would be able to keep the truth from her long enough that I would enjoy peace and pleasure with her until the rest of the men were off of Hexa and the other humans had already been returned to the planet Earth.

  Chapter 7

  Dr. Alice Tanner

  “Wait a minute,” I said, frowning. I didn’t know a lot about space travel, but I did know how to identify the Milky Way Galaxy. And during the three days that it took to travel toward Yala, I hadn’t seen it anywhere. “Where’s Earth? I thought you said that it was on the way.”

  The tension in the small ship grew unbearable, and nobody spoke. I turned to Kecha to confront him, but he appeared to be asleep. As much as I wanted to wake him, I feared the persecution of his crew. They had demonstrated a high degree of loyalty toward him, and anything that might be perceived as an attack against him could probably result in my untimely death. I would have to be careful.

  When nobody answered me, I sat back against the wall with my arms folded over my chest. This was not going the way that I had expected it to. I thought that I would be roaming the Earth by now, back on my home planet, pondering the mysteries of the alien seedlings that sprouted into tiny, inconspicuous flowers that provided Earth’s ecosystem with a genetic boost. Instead, I was sitting beside a Raither, who was probably pretending to be sleeping so he wouldn’t have to answer my questions, in a ship full of his kind, who would kill me with no questions asked should I act up in any way, shape, or form. I had never been more trapped in my life.

  And yet, as angry as I was, I was exhausted as well. I had barely been able to rest on Hexa after the attack that had rendered our shelter uninhabitable and engulfed in flames. The image of the Grechen haunted my dreams and had left me tired and anxious, terrified that I might run into another.

  Now, being out in space, I was able to sleep deeply, although not comfortably. Still, it was better than the ground of a planet where, at any given moment, I might be burnt to a crisp.

  I closed my eyes and chose to let the question rest, knowing that if I made a scene, it would be my last. I would confront Kecha when we were alone, and I knew that we would be able to get away with having an honest conversation without his loyal followers keeping a stern eye on me and making me feel as if I were the most unwanted creature they had ever met. There was a time and a place for everything, and I would just have to find the time to confront Kecha on what surely was turning out to be a lie. I hoped it was just a misunderstanding, but something was making me nervous.

  I would just have to hold my tongue and allow my body to get the rest it needed. Because if it did turn out that Kecha was lying to me, that would mean that I would need to save my strength because I was going to try to beat the living hell out of him.

  ***

  “Wake up, human! We are here!”

  I was startled out of my sleep by Kecha’s excited voice, and I stood up, my heart pounding in my chest.

  “Earth?”

  Kecha looked confused for a moment, and then sheepish.

  “Come. We will take good care of you here.”

  Before I had the chance to reply, I was being ushered off the ship and out the doorway.

  I gasped in disbelief. Yala was breathtaking. The sky was vast and filled with as many colors as the eyes of the Raithan man that had been taking care of me, and as far as the eye could see, there was beautiful, hilly terrain on patches of pastel purple and tan earth. It was almost like stepping out into a painting, only here, I could smell the sweet scent of the lavish wind and feel the tickle against my neck as it lifted my hair.

  “I want to go home,” I said halfheartedly, suddenly remembering my latest complaint.

  But the words felt hollow to me now, and I followed Kecha and his crew absently as we left the ship.

  Outside was a crowd of Raithers clamoring around the ship and seeking words with those of us who had emerged. I was greeted with shocked stares and points, but mostly ignored in favor of the crew that had apparently been presumed dead.

  “All right, all right,” Kecha finally said, his loud, deep voice cutting through the clamor. “We will answer all of your questions in depth at a later time. We are tired from our journey and would just like to get some rest now. So, if you don’t mind, please part and allow us through.”

  The crowd reluctantly obeyed and before long, I found myself in a fancy hovercraft that was long like a limousine and smartly furnished. Kecha was beside me, telling the driver where to go. The driver nodded, and before long we had arrived in front of a tall, unbelievable structure. It reminded me of the Greek Colosseum, except made purely out of clay the same color as the lavender earth. Sweeping designs covered the frieze of the building, and I found myself sucked in by its intricate mastery.

  “This is my home,” Kecha said, matter-of-factly. “You are going to stay here with me.”

  “Until I return to Earth,” I said, more firmly this time than the last.

  But he did not answer me. Instead, we moved into the house, and Kecha showed me to the bedroom.

  “Rest a while, human,” he said. “I have a crew to rescue.”

  And with that, he left.

  ***

  By the time Kecha returned, I had gone through every room of the house, my anger at him mounting exponentially as I did so. He was beautiful, yes, and so was this ridiculous house, but that didn’t give him the right to blow me off. Just what was he thinking? How selfish could he possibly be?

  “Tell me why I’m here,” I demanded, the second I heard him walk through the door and I met him on his way to the dining area of the magnificent home.

  “You are here, human, because I want you here. And because you want to be here. Or is that not apparent?”

  He seemed bored by my question, which only served to fuel my anger to the breaking point.

  “I told you where I want to be!” I shouted. “And that is on Earth! In my own home! With my own people! Not here with you in this house where I don’t belong! What’s the matter with you?”

  “From what I have seen, you and your own people do not get along. Why don’t you try to give this a chance? You could be happy here. The Raithers have very reliable soul technology; it can help you to predict where you will find your most pleasurable outcome possible, and I can assure you—”

  “I can assure you that you have no idea what would make my soul happy!”

  Kecha opened his mouth to reply, but I was already beyond done listening to his bullshit. I shook my head, silencing him, and then went off again, this time hoping to hit him where it hurt.

  “I don’t know why you seem to think that just because we get along and that you saved my life, that I owe you something. I will never owe you anything. And you know what? Just because we had sex doesn’t mean that I care about you. I can’t stand you. You’re an arrogant, selfish, asshole and I couldn’t care less what happens to you or your people!”

  He narrowed his eyes but didn’t speak, and seemed more than at his threshold of patience. And yet he didn’t respond to me in any way other than to purse his lips and sigh. Kecha’s handsome face seemed drawn and yet determined somehow. It only served to make me an
grier.

  “If you even try to so much as speak to me again, I will find a way to make you regret it. I can promise you that,” I said, my anger turning to ice.

  I whirled away from him and stalked down the hallway into one of the rooms I had determined were intended for guests. The one he had placed me in at first was clearly his own, but there was no way in hell I was sharing a bed with this man. Not now. Not after he had betrayed me like this.

  I tossed and turned in bed that night, unable to sleep. When I got up to gaze out the window, my heart nearly stopped. The sky was filled with billions upon billions of bright, glittering stars. This was nothing like the view on Earth or on Hexa. This was a sight unique entirely to the planet Yala.

  The sky’s multicolored hues had dimmed, but the colors were still there, only this time, translucent and merging, moving as though driven by an iridescent current that brought each swirl of color to life.

  Suddenly I understood why the Raithers preferred the bright open spaces and wanted to always be able to see the sky, no matter where on the planet they happened to be. It made me feel a reluctant sympathy and admiration for Kecha, despite my fury. I would have to at least explore the planet before figuring out a way back to Earth. If Kecha wouldn’t take me back home, I would find my way myself.

  ***

  I woke up the next morning, my stomach gurgling in response to an incredible scent that was wafting through the corridors of Kecha’s impressive home. I sat up, frozen with an internal conflict. Did I get up and face the man who had abducted me to his planet against my will, or did I stay in bed and pretend that my voracious appetite didn’t exist and remain in bed and hungry for the rest of the day, just so I wouldn’t have to face him?