Alien Romance: Astral Mates Complete Series (Book 1 - 4): Scifi Alien Abduction Romance (Alien Invasion Romance, Alien Romance)

by Chloe Joel

  They couldn’t find her. She’d get away. When she reached the staircase, a small surge of glee charged through her. A jolt of adrenaline helped her forget about her pain for just a moment as she began the descent. It was slow going, but she just took them one stair at a time.

  The adrenaline rush passed far too quickly for her liking, and the pain in her ankle continued getting worse and worse. Still, she pressed on. As she made her way down, she began to sweat.

  Her skin heated to near boiling, though whether it was from the exertion or from the pain she couldn’t be sure. The wound in her head continued to bleed, but was now just a small trickle. The side of her face was tight with the crust of the dried blood caked along her cheek and hair. Then she looked up. Instead of focusing on the next stair down, she wanted to see how much farther she had to go.

  That’s when she saw him climbing up. It was the longest staircase in existence, and she was already way too far down to try going back up and hiding. There was nowhere to go.

  She just froze, watching him climb the steps at a nice steady pace, wondering if he’d seen her yet. When she saw him glance up and smile at her, she knew he’d already seen her, and had known she was there for a while now.

  There was no hiding or escaping this. Abbie wanted to cry. She just sat down on the stair she was on and rested. He’d make her climb back up, she knew, but she was so exhausted. She’d need the rest. She kept her eyes down, anticipating him rushing up the stairs to her. Any second he’d arrive. Any minute. She needed to value every breath she could get.

  After what seemed like an hour, she glanced up wondering where he’d gone. He was taking the stairs so agonizingly slow that her first thought was that something was wrong, he was injured or something. Then she saw him look up again, a small smile on his face as he took the next stair. Long seconds passed.

  He raised a foot and took the next stair. He was purposely going as slowly as he could to allow her to rest. When she stood, letting him know she was ready to go back up, he immediately picked up the pace again and was to her in minutes.

  “A nice outing?” he asked her.

  “Just getting some air.”

  He smirked and took her by the chin to turn her head away from him. “You’re injured,” he said, and she realized he was looking at the blood on her face.

  “That’s not bad. My ankle is worse, actually.”

  “Your ankle?” he asked, confused. “The stairs?”

  “I think I fell about twenty feet.”

  “Twenty!” He barked out a laugh. “Well done. Also that I am the one to catch you and not my men. This is both impressive and infuriating.”

  “I’m just as surprised as you are.”

  He grinned at her and pushed her to sit. “Let us see this ankle, hmm?”

  He was carrying a sack of some kind, the bottom of it was soaking wet. With the constantly red light coming from their sun it was impossible for her to know why it was wet or what was dripping from it, but she figured he’d tell her if he wanted her to know. She sat back on the stair and let him pull up her leg.

  He pulled back the hem of her dress to her knee, and ran a hand down her calf in a soft caress. The obviousness of his copping a feel didn’t escape her, but the touch was surprisingly welcomed.

  She was expecting him to beat her or something, not be so nice. She was escaping! Here he was treating it like it was some kind of inside joke between them. He removed her shoe and she winced when she saw it.

  Her ankle was black and blue, veiny, and swollen like she’d never seen before. It was hideous.

  “It is nearly broken. All of these stairs,” he said, tsking and shaking his head. “You should not have put so much pressure on it. Come come, let us get you to bed.”

  She didn’t argue when he helped her up and put her arm over his neck. He carried her shoe for her and lifted her on each step so that she didn’t have to put any weight on that foot. Now that the shoe wasn’t constricting the ankle anymore, it swelled quickly and the pain intensified.

  The last thing she wanted was to call more attention to herself. She just tried to escape! Who knew what he’d do if he finally paid more attention and became angry or something. They were nearly to the top when a score of men arrived, weapons drawn.

  Gorren looked up at them. “A bit late, don’t you think?” he said, fixing them with a glare that made it clear he was unhappy with them.

  “My lord,” one of them tried to say, but he held up a hand.

  “See her to her room. Fix the ankle. Report to me when you’re finished.”

  “Right away,” he said and the lot of them rushed down to lift her and carry her off. They were all strong, tough men, but it was sort of hilarious they all jumped to do whatever it was Gorren said.

  Maybe she wasn’t from here and hadn’t grown up hearing about his reputation, but it was clear that these men knew they were working for. They did just as he asked, and she had to admit a mix of both relief and frustration as they carried her back through those damn doors.

  She was grateful to be off of her feet and in bed, but after everything she just put herself through it felt like it had all been for nothing. Still, she’d given it a try. Next time she would have to plan the timing better. Obviously taking the stairs was a bad idea. If he came home too soon, there was nowhere to go.

  She hadn’t thought about that. This would take more thought and planning. For now, she needed to rest.

  Gorren stood in his martial hall panting to catch his breath. Around him lay the bodies of his men, all alive, but none of them conscious. Fortunately for him the woman was incapacitated due to her ankle, he could afford for his workforce to be out of commission for some time. This should teach them to pay more attention to their duties, or else face the consequences.

  Gorren flexed the joints in his hands, the knuckles cracking from the strain he’d put on them and marched out of the room. As he exited the door he scooped up the bleeding sack and walked up to the woman’s room where she recovered. He took a moment to compose himself and put a smile on his face. Then, pushing the door open, he grinned at the female Abbie as she lied on the bed.

  “Better?” he asked her.

  She turned her head over to him and gave him the familiar look of boredom. It was coming to the point that he assumed it was her normal look. He couldn’t remember her face ever being anything different.

  “As well as can be,” she said.

  “Once more you prove you are more than just another female. Little would have endured such pain so stoically. Your face was still as water before a storm, and you did no complaining as we mounted the stairs. How you made it as far as you did on your own is beyond me. You have proven your strength and bravery. And now I shall prove mine.”

  Abbie backed away in the bed, pushing herself away in fear. He laughed.

  “No, not that.” He brought forward the sack he’d been carrying and dropped it on the bedside table with a wet thud.

  “This,” he said proudly.

  “What is it?” She looked at it dubiously.

  “The head of my enemy!” Gorren grinned and let her soak that up.

  “The what?”

  “My enemy, he had been making some grave gestures towards my household for some time now, but I had been more concerned with political repercussions for any actions, instead of simply taking matters into my own hands. Well, after we talked, I realized that I could not just tell you of my deeds. Where you come from, men proved their worth. As I have now proved mine.”

  “That’s a head,” she asked.

  “Yes.”

  “A human head is in that bag? Right by my bed?”

  “Incorrect,” he said with an upraised finger. “This is not human. He was not of your world.”

  He could see the excitement climb within her. Any moment she would leap out of bed and demand his seed.

  “That’s a head! And that really was blood I saw dripping from the bag? I thought it was just the sun making i
t look red. Oh my God! Get that out of here!”

  “What?” he was completely confused. “But you said…”

  “That’s a head! This is not romantic! You’re like a cat bringing me a dead bird as a gift. Get it out of here!”

  “These cats sound like proud, honorable animals,” he said, taking up the sack with a bit of indignity.

  “Yeah, they sure like to think so,” she said. Then she shivered all over and rolled off of the bed on the opposite side. “I can’t lay next to that table. Get it out of here.”

  “But I thought…”

  “Get it out of here! Get it all out of here! This is the most disgusting thing I’ve ever heard of!”

  “You are being contradictory and I shall not leave until you give me an answer! I was telling you of my noble deeds, but you said I must prove it. Here,” he raised the sack above his head.

  “I have proved it, yet now you yell and wail like any other female as though I have done wrong. And after you jumped from my window and nearly broke yourself!”

  “Yes you’re very brave,” she said, and then made a retching motion as though she were to vomit. “You’re disgusting. I can’t believe this.”

  “Explain it to me. Who is it I should kill to prove to you my worthiness?”

  “No one!” She stopped and wiped her face with a hand. “It’s not like that. You don’t just kill people. That makes you insane. Women don’t just like fighting.”

  “But you said--!”

  “They don’t just like fighting! They, ugh, they like it when men fight to protect them, or defend them. Like in the stories when a lion or a dragon or something is going to eat the woman, and then the brave warrior dashes into the fray to rescue them. You know, endangering themselves to protect the one they love.”

  “This is a thing?”

  “Yes,” she said, hissing on the s.

  “So simply eliminating your enemies before they can do you wrong is crazy, yet waiting for them to act and then killing them, this makes sense to you? That’s just bad strategy. Why would you do this?”

  Abbie looked as though she were sincerely trying to explain it to him, and that fact alone helped to calm him. At least she didn’t appear to be making fun of him for what he was trying to do.

  “If you act first, and you kill them before they’ve done anything, that makes you a cold-blooded killer. Where I come from, that’s a bad thing. But if they act first, that makes them the bad one. They are acting to harm you. Defending yourself isn’t a bad thing, it’s a necessity.”

  “But acting before they act can be a form of defense.”

  She squinted an eye and let out a strained, “Kinda.”

  “I do not understand.”

  “How do you know they were going to act in the first place? What if you only think they were going to, but then they never do? Or were never going to? You can’t punish someone for an act they never committed.”

  “Yes you can.”

  She balled up her fists and squealed with frustration. “No you can’t! That’s wrong. Don’t you get it? That’s so wrong.”

  “So,” he said, trying to piece all of this information together, “because he didn’t act first,” he said, pointing to the sack, “that means I did the bad thing in killing him first?”

  “Yes,” she said, though she sounded apprehensive about it.

  He couldn’t blame her, it was a large weight to take onto one’s self to tell another they’d performed a grave injustice. “I think I understand, but I tell you now this is not how it works here.”

  “Very well,” she said and waved her hands as though dismissing the whole thing. “Your planet. Your rules. You asked me why I reacted the way I did. To me, that’s just murder you’re holding in your hand.”

  “Huh,” he said, and looked at the bag. “Well then… I suppose I shall rid us of this.”

  “Please,” she said, sounding relieved.

  Gorren turned to leave, but then stopped and turned around. “On your world, when a man wishes to woo a woman, what does he give her if not the heads of his enemies? I take it the heads of your enemies would also be ill-fitting.”

  “Right now you’re my enemy, so please, by all means.”

  “This is not helpful.”

  She sneered at him, then leaned against the bed. “I don’t know. Nice things. Soft things. Things that shimmer or shine. Things that, when you think of them, make you feel warm on the inside. Good. Safe.”

  “All of this, but not the heads of your enemies?”

  “Yes.”

  “You are a complicated species,” he said and left her.

  This was going to take more effort than he thought.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Abbie was determined to escape, but couldn’t manage anymore recon until her ankle was healed. Once they’d seen to it, the full weight of the pain had hit her. She’d been able to push herself while she was trying to escape, but walking around now without any stress or adrenaline pushing her on was just asking for too much.

  What made matters worse was that Gorren actually came by to visit her. Often. He brought her stones that shined in the light of their sun, but also gave a gentle glow when it went dark.

  He said they were very common, and not worth much, but to look on them had always gentled his soul when he was upset. He liked to cast them over a dark sheet in the night and look at them while meditating.

  He said it looked like looking down on the stars. When he’d gone, she had tried that very thing and was surprised by how accurate the description was. Next he brought her weeds. At first she thought the attempt was pathetic, but when she ran her hand along the violent looking thorns she found they were a ruse, and were surprisingly soft, like bunny fur. It was just a decoy to scare off anything that would eat them, but were widely regarded as one of the softest things on the planet.

  Again, they weren’t valuable, but he always liked the way they felt. She said pretty things, and soft things, so these were what he brought her. He seemed almost to be defensive about the fact that they weren’t valuable. Despite her best efforts, it was becoming harder and harder to stay angry with him.

  He ruled his household like a true lord, strict but fair, and he always treated her with respect, if not kindness exactly. When she was well enough to walk, she asked him to show her around the palace grounds.

  The walk was good for her ankle so that she could stretch it out, and it was a chance to get him talking more. She wasn’t sure when it happened, but at some point she grew to look forward to when he would come visit her.

  They became the high point of her day, and when her bedroom doors opened for their walks around the grounds, her stomach grew with a small flutter. One day when he was returning her to her room to rest after a particularly long walk, he bid her good day, but she pulled lightly on his arm.

  “Stay,” she said softly.

  She didn’t exactly know what she was doing, or how she was feeling, but she did know that she needed to touch him, to be touched by him.

  It was all the encouragement he needed. He scooped her up into his arms and kissed her. In all her life, she’d never been kissed so passionately by anyone. She’d never been so wanted. It was impossible not to mirror back that desire to him. He was a dizzyingly attractive man and at that moment she couldn’t hold back her needs any longer.

  She pulled off the leather that covered his torso, and when his muscles and flesh were exposed to her, she ran her fingertips down his chest.

  He was so hard, so chiseled. It was like being with a statue of a God. He lifted her for a moment and then dropped her back onto the bed. With a single great pull, he ripped open her dress, exposing her body to him. He growled as he lowered his mouth to her neck, and breasts.

  Abbie closed her eyes, gasping as she felt his lips ravage her. Then, before she realized what was happening, he turned her onto her stomach and was already pressing the thick hardness of himself against her. Abbie moaned and grabbed onto the bedsheets w
ith both hands as she felt him enter her. They both called out their pleasure as he began pumping away at her.

  The sound of her flesh slapping against his echoed in the chamber. He grunted atop her, wild with pent up passion. Abbie couldn’t contain herself anymore, and she pressed back against him with every thrust, yearning to get more of him inside of her, begging for it.

  She’d wanted this for far longer than she could admit to herself. Finally, when she reached the point where she couldn’t take anymore, he cried out with an animal’s strength and climaxed.

  Finished, he climbed off of her and stood there looking at her, panting and looking well satisfied with himself. Abbie rolled over and felt the need to cover herself.

  “Worth every effort,” he said. Then gathering up his clothes, he left her chambers.

  She could only lie there feeling used and confused as to how she’d let herself succumb to him. Yet, at the same time, her body still trembled with the power of her ecstasy. No matter what the cost, that was the best she’d ever had.

  After that she’d expected him to lose interest in her, and he very well may have for he didn’t come the next day. Yet, the day following that, he returned to her. He attempted to make conversation with her, but after a few awkward minutes, he was once more on top of her, undressing her and kissing her.

  She’d given in once already. She’d lost. There didn’t seem a point to holding back any longer. There was no denying the fact that he was the most handsome man she’d ever witnessed in her life, and now that she’d had him once, she realized she craved him. As he took her again, thrusting away like the wild man he was, she closed her eyes and let herself enjoy it.

  When she admitted to herself that she wanted this just as much as he did, she felt a great weight lift from her. The first time they were together she had been overcome with passion. This time, though, she knew it was true desire that burned inside of her for this alien lord. When he finished, he lingered for a moment longer than he had before. Then, he gave her a kiss, and left.

  Instead of waiting days, he was back later that evening for another go. Then again, the next morning.