Close Obsession (The Krinar Chronicles: Volume 2)

by Zaires, Anna

  Mia had no other choice. Bracing herself for the worst, she led Korum into the living room.

  At their entrance, her parents stood up from the couch and simply stared. Mia couldn’t blame them: Korum was a striking sight. Dressed in a white polo shirt and blue jeans, her lover was the epitome of casual elegance. With his glossy black hair and golden skin, he could have been a model or a movie star, except that no human had eyes of that unusual amber hue – or moved with such animal grace. And even standing still, he projected an unmistakable aura of power, his presence dominating the room.

  Taking a step toward her parents, he smiled widely, revealing the dimple on his left cheek. “You must be Ella and Dan. I’m very pleased to meet you. Mia has told me so much about her family.”

  Mia noticed that he didn’t offer to shake their hand or make any other move to touch them. It was probably the right thing to do. Her parents were already tense enough at having a K in their house.

  Her dad nodded curtly. “That’s funny, because we just heard about you today.”

  “Dan!” her mom whispered fiercely, clearly afraid of their extraterrestrial guest’s reaction. She seemed unable to take her eyes off Korum, staring at him with a dazed look on her face. Mia knew exactly how she felt.

  Korum’s didn’t seem offended at all, giving her dad a warm smile instead. “Of course,” he said softly. “I understand that this is all a huge shock for you. I know how much you love your daughter and worry about her, and I would like to set your mind at ease about our relationship.”

  Mia’s mom finally remembered her manners as a hostess. “Can I offer you anything to eat or drink?” she asked uncertainly, still staring at Korum like she wasn’t sure whether she wanted to run away screaming or reach out and touch him.

  “Sure,” he said easily. “Some tea and fruit would be great, especially if you join me.”

  Mia blinked in surprise. She hadn’t known that Korum drank tea. And then she realized just how extensive his file on her family had to be: he had unerringly picked the one thing guaranteed to make her mom more comfortable – her parents’ daily ritual of making and drinking tea.

  “Of course.” Her mom looked relieved to have something to do. “Please have a seat in the dining room, and I’ll bring some tea. We have some really nice local oranges . . . You do eat oranges, right?”

  Korum grinned at her. “Definitely. I love oranges, especially the ones from Florida.”

  Ella Stalis smiled at him tentatively. “That’s great. We have really good ones this week – juicy and sweet. I’ll bring them right out.” And blushing a little, she hurried away, looking unusually flustered.

  Mia mentally rolled her eyes. Apparently, even older women were not immune to his charm.

  “The dining room is this way,” her dad said, looking slightly uncomfortable at being left alone with Mia and her K.

  Mia walked over to Korum and took his hand, determined to show her dad that there was nothing to worry about. Smiling, she led him toward the table.

  The three of them sat down.

  At that moment, Mocha appeared, her little tail wagging. To Mia’s huge surprise, she came directly to Korum and sniffed at his legs. He smiled and bent down to pet the dog, who seemed to revel in his attention. Mia watched the scene with disbelief; the Chihuahua was normally very reserved around strangers.

  After a minute, Korum straightened and turned his attention back to the human inhabitants of the house.

  “So Mia tells us she has an internship in your colony,” Dan Stalis said, looking at Korum as though studying a new and exotic species – which, actually, he was. “How exactly does that work? I assume she can’t really understand a lot of your science and doesn’t know your technology . . .”

  “On the contrary,” Korum told him, “Mia is a very fast learner. She’s made tremendous progress in the last couple of weeks. Saret – her boss at the lab – tells me that she’s already making herself quite useful.”

  Mia smiled, tickled pink by his praise. “Like I told you, dad, Saret is one of their top mind experts. He’s at the cutting edge of Krinar neuroscience and psychology. And I get to work with him. Can you imagine?”

  Her dad rubbed his temples again, and Mia saw him wince slightly. “I can’t, to be honest. The whole thing has been rather overwhelming. You’ll excuse us if we’re not exactly jumping for joy right now –”

  “Of course,” Korum said gently. “I wouldn’t be either if it were my daughter.”

  “Do you have children?” Dan asked bluntly.

  “No, I don’t.”

  “Why not?”

  “Dad!” Mia was mortified by this line of questions.

  Korum shrugged, apparently not minding the prying. “Because I don’t have a mate, and I wouldn’t want to raise a child without one.”

  Her dad’s eyes narrowed. “How old are you?”

  “In your Earth years, I’m about two thousand years of age.”

  The look on her dad’s face was priceless. “T-two thousand?”

  In that moment, her mom walked in, carrying a bowl of oranges and a tray with tea cups.

  Mia got up and rushed toward her. “Here, let me help you with that,” she said, grabbing the bowl from her.

  “Thanks, sweetie,” her mom told her, and Mia breathed a sigh of relief that at least one parent seemed to have recovered her composure.

  Setting the cups filled with hot tea around the table, Ella asked Korum, “Would you like some cream or sugar? We have coconut cream, almond cream, soy cream . . .”

  “No, thank you,” Korum replied politely, giving her a dazzling smile. “I prefer my tea plain.”

  “So do we,” her mom admitted, blushing again. Mia barely stopped herself from snickering – her parent appeared to have developed a little crush on her lover.

  “Ella,” Mia’s dad said slowly, “Korum here is apparently much older than we thought . . .”

  “Oh?” her mom inquired, sitting down and reaching for an orange. Methodically peeling the fruit, she gave her husband a questioning look.

  “He’s two thousand years old . . .” Her dad seemed awed by that fact.

  “What?” The orange dropped on the table, landing with a soft plop.

  “Mom, you knew the Ks are long-lived,” Mia said, getting exasperated with their reactions. “You and I watched that program together a couple of years ago, remember? It was one of those Nova documentaries about the invasion.”

  “I remember,” her mom said, still looking like she’d been hit with a hammer. “But I didn’t realize that meant thousands of years . . .”

  “How exactly does something like that work if you’re in a relationship with a human?” Her dad was back to being his blunt self. “Because Mia can’t possibly live that long –”

  “That’s between me and your daughter, Dan,” Korum said gently, but there was a steely note in his voice that warned against pushing in this direction. “We’ll figure everything out in due time.” And picking up an orange, he calmly peeled it, his fingers moving faster and more efficiently than her mom’s had been.

  “By the way,” he added, biting into the orange, “Mia mentioned that you tend to get frequent headaches, and I couldn’t help but notice that you’ve been rubbing your temples. Are you suffering from one now?”

  Caught off-guard, her dad nodded.

  At the affirmative gesture, Korum reached into his jeans pocket and pulled out a tiny capsule. Handing it to Mia’s dad, he said, “This is something that should take care of the issue. One of our top human biology experts developed it specifically for cases such as yours.”

  “What is it? A painkiller?” Her dad studied the little capsule with no small measure of distrust.

  “Yes, it works immediately as such. But it should also prevent any future occurrences.”

  “A migraine cure?” her mom asked, and there was a desperate look of hope in her eyes.

  “Exactly,” Korum confirmed, and Ella Stalis’s eyes lit up.<
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  Her dad frowned. “Are there side effects? How do I know it’s safe?”

  “Dad, their medicine is wonderful,” Mia told him sincerely. “Truly, you have nothing to be afraid of.”

  “Mia is right. There are no side effects when it comes to our medications. And, Dan, the last thing I would want is to hurt the people Mia loves the most. I know you have very little reason to trust me yet, and I hope that changes in the future. If you don’t want to take the medicine, it’s entirely up to you. I just wanted you to have it in case you are in pain.”

  “Just take it, Dan. Right now,” Ella ordered, giving her husband a determined look. “I don’t think Mia’s boyfriend would give you something bad for you. If there’s even a small chance that it can really cure you, then you owe it to yourself and to your family to try it – particularly if Korum says there are no side effects.”

  Her dad hesitated, studying Korum’s face for a few seconds. Whatever he saw there seemed to reassure him. “Do I just swallow it?”

  “Squeeze it into a cup of water, and then drink it,” Korum said. “It works quicker that way.”

  Mia’s mom was already on her feet and pouring her dad a cup of water from a pitcher sitting on the table. “Here,” she said, thrusting it at him.

  Dan Stalis took the cup slowly and pinched the capsule between his fingers, squeezing out two drops of liquid into the water. “Is this it?” he asked, looking up at Korum.

  Her lover gave him an encouraging smile. “Yes.”

  Cautiously sniffing it, Mia’s dad took a sip. “This actually tastes good.” He sounded surprised.

  “Most of our medicines do.”

  Bringing the cup to his mouth, her dad drank the rest of the water. Almost immediately, Mia could see the tense muscles around his jawline relaxing. Smiling at him, she said, “It’s working, right? You can feel it right away.”

  Her dad looked pleasantly surprised, and her mom’s face was shining with happiness. “Yes. It seems to be instant.” Turning to Korum, he said, “Thank you. That was very nice of you.”

  “Of course,” Korum said softly. “I would do anything for Mia and the people she loves.”

  Chapter 16

  “I have to talk to my sister too,” Mia said as she got into the car and waved goodbye to her parents. Her mom was holding Mocha, who very nearly followed them out, having developed an inexplicable doggy crush on Korum. “I know mom is calling her right now, but I’d like her to hear it from me as well. I told her something earlier, and I would really like a chance to explain, so she doesn’t get the wrong idea about our relationship.”

  “What did you tell her?” Korum asked, smoothly pulling out of the driveway. He drove like he did everything else – with skill and efficiency.

  “I told her I had a lover who was from Dubai,” Mia admitted, blushing a little. “And I said that things wouldn’t work out between us because he had to leave soon.”

  “I see,” Korum said, and there was a noticeable chill in his voice. “And when did you tell her this?”

  Crap. She really shouldn’t have brought this up – but it was too late now. “When I thought you might be leaving for Krina,” she confessed. “Before, you know . . .”

  “Before your betrayal?”

  Mia sucked in her breath. “Are you still mad at me? You said you’d let it go . . .”

  “I let it go as far as I’m not going to punish you for it. But I can’t quite forget it, my sweet. Not yet.”

  Mia bit her lip, feeling upset. “I don’t understand you sometimes,” she said quietly. “One minute you’re so nice to me and my family, and the next you’re talking about punishing me for a situation that wasn’t exactly my fault – a situation that you manipulated to your advantage. What did you expect me to do? Just calmly accept the fact that I might end up as a sex slave?”

  “You could’ve talked to me at any point and asked me whether it’s true.” He kept his eyes on the road, but Mia could see a tiny twitch in his tightly clenched jaw muscle.

  “And if it were? What would I have done then? I would’ve endangered John and everyone in the Resistance and lost my only chance to help them and myself.”

  “At what point did I ever treat you as a sex slave?” Korum asked, and his even tone made her shiver a little. He was still not looking at her. “I gave you everything, Mia, and you kept acting like I was a villain.”

  Mia swallowed. “You knew I was afraid in the beginning, and you didn’t give me any choice,” she said, feeling old resentment rising up. “And besides, what is a charl, really? What rights do I have in your society? I know you don’t treat me poorly, but you could, right? If you wanted to keep me locked up in your house, would anyone stop you?”

  He didn’t answer, and she could see his jaw tighten further.

  They turned off Granada Boulevard onto A1A, and he drove for another few minutes before pulling into the winding driveway of a large beachfront mansion. At their approach, the wrought-iron gates swung open, letting them through.

  “Where are we?” asked Mia, breaking the tense silence. She felt sick in her stomach. She hated arguing with Korum, and the last few days had been so nice, so peaceful. Why had she stupidly reminded him of what happened before?

  The car came to a stop, and he put the clutch in “park” mode before turning to look at her. “Come here,” he said roughly, burying his hand in her hair and leaning over to give her a deep, penetrating kiss. By the time he let her come up for air, Mia was melting bonelessly into him, almost trembling with need.

  Letting her go, he climbed out of the car and came around to open the passenger door. Mia climbed out on somewhat unsteady legs as he watched her with hungry gold-tinted eyes.

  She looked up at him.

  “We’re in a house I rented for the week,” he told her. “Let’s go inside.” And taking her hand, he led her up the steps and into the stately white building.

  The interior of their “rental house” could’ve easily been featured in Architectural Digest magazine, with its sharply designed white furniture and open layout with gleaming hardwood floors. One wall – the one facing the ocean – was made entirely of glass and provided a breathtaking view.

  Turning Mia toward him, Korum bent down and kissed her again, lightly. “Why don’t you go call your sister now?” he suggested, and his voice sounded a little hoarse. “When you come back, I have some plans for you.”

  * * *

  Trying to calm her elevated heartbeat, Mia walked upstairs and into a room where she spotted an old-fashioned landline phone. When she was sure she had herself sufficiently under control and could think of something besides Korum’s plans, she called her sister, dialing her cell phone number from memory.

  Marisa picked up on the fifth ring. “Hello?”

  “Hey, Marisa, it’s me . . .”

  “Mia? I was just on the phone with mom! Holy shit! You’re dating a K?!?”

  Mia sighed. “Yep. Listen, remember that thing I told you?”

  “About your supposed wealthy executive lover?” Her sister’s tone sounded caustic. “Yes, I remember perfectly.”

  Mia winced. “Well, I was not fully honest with you –”

  “No shit!”

  “I’m sorry,” Mia said sincerely. “I really thought he might leave for Krina at that point and I would never see him again. I needed to talk to someone, but I just didn’t feel like I could tell the whole story . . .”

  For a second, there was silence. “Mia,” Marisa said, sounding upset, “you can always tell me the whole story, even if it’s worthy of being on the cover of National Geographic. I’m your sister, and if anyone can understand, it would be me.”

  Mia squeezed her eyes shut, feeling ashamed. “I know. I’m sorry. There was just a lot going on and I wasn’t thinking clearly at the time –”

  “What was going on? And what changed? How did it go from ‘this can never work out’ to meeting the parents and spending the summer in Costa Rica?”

&nb
sp; “We worked out our differences,” Mia said, not wanting to go into the particulars. “And he’s staying here, on Earth.”

  There was again silence for a second. Then her sister said, “Seriously, Mia? A K? You couldn’t choose someone of the same species?”

  Mia smiled, relieved. The worst seemed to be over. “I know, it’s insane –”

  “Insane is putting it mildly,” Marisa said seriously. “Freaking awesome is how I would phrase it.”

  Mia laughed, startled. “What?”

  “My baby sis is dating a super-hot, wealthy alien genius who just cured dad’s migraines? Hell yeah, it’s fucking amazing!”

  Mia couldn’t believe her ears. “You’re not going to read me a lecture and tell me how foolish I am to get involved with someone so dangerous and not human, and blah, blah, blah?”

  “Oh please, I’m sure parents already did that. What can I say that’ll be in any way additive? No, baby sis, I’m happy for you. You’ve walked the straight and narrow for way too long. A little danger and spice in your life is exactly what you need. And besides, from what mom tells me, he’s unbelievably gorgeous and has been around since the dawn of time. It really doesn’t get any cooler than that . . . I can’t wait to meet him!”

  Mia grinned hugely. Her sister always managed to surprise her. “You’re the best sister ever,” she told Marisa. “So when am I seeing you and Connor?”

  “Tonight at six. Apparently, your extraterrestrial lover invited the whole family for dinner.”

  “He did? When?” Mia couldn’t remember him doing anything of the sort.

  “I don’t know. I wasn’t there. Shouldn’t you be the one to know? I thought he did it at your request . . .”

  “Um . . . he takes initiative a lot when it comes to these things.” Too much, considering that Mia didn’t even know about the invitation. He must’ve talked to her parents when she visited the restroom. “So are we meeting at a restaurant somewhere?”

  “It’s kind of crazy that I’m the one telling you this, Mia.” Marisa sounded like she was laughing. “We’re coming over to your rental house. He’s cooking. Still doesn’t ring a bell?”