I look back at the long wisp of sheet hanging down from my balcony. Luckily, Zayin didn’t think to leave his personal guards on the lower floor. I feel a wave of excitement as I see the facility getting closer on the horizon. I’ve always been one for conspiracies, and can’t believe that I’ve found myself in the middle of one.
The facility is still open for the day, so it’s not hard to get into the main building. However, there’s a section towards the back labeled “Restricted,” which might be a little bit of a challenge to get into. I look around the main room, seeing Avroxee reading brochures about the selection process or filling out paperwork. I try to think of something clever, as Killuk would.
I look around for anything I can use, but there’s nothing except pens and paper on a table. I grab them as I take a deep breath, looking towards the front desk. All I have is myself; but, I can still try to make that work. I approach the secretary with my only props.
“Um, hi,” I say shyly. “I’m on a coffee run right now. I was sent over from the Maternity Center. They said you guys might want something.”
I’m expecting the worst; but, to my surprise, the secretary’s face lights up.
Thank the gods!” She exclaims. “I was wondering when you’d come by.”
I write down her order, pointing my pen at the restricted section. “Is it okay if I slip in there really quickly to get their orders, too?” I ask as calmly as I can. The secretary looks around, more suspicious now, but presses a button under her desk that opens the door to the restricted section.
“Normally, I’d run in there and write them myself. Since you’ve come all the way from Maternity, I guess it couldn’t hurt if you run in there. Be quick, though.”
I wave her goodbye as I rush through the automatic doors. They shut behind me with a loud click. I only have a matter of minutes now before I could get caught and kicked out of this place. I rush down the hallway, trying to stay calm even though my knees are knocking together. My eyes scan the signs: Complaints, Board Room, Matchmaking, and Applicant Records. That has to be the records room. I check the empty hallway before ducking through the door.
There are endless rows of files here. This is just one of hundreds of mating facilities across Avrox, but it almost seems as is the records from every Avroxee are kept in here. I barely even know where to start, but I’m relieved once I notice they’re categorized by month. I pore over the files, checking them until I see “T, Isabel” on one of the labels. My hands shake as I pull out the file. There’s a picture of me stapled to a paper, listing my medical history and my personal history. It even has the date I was abducted. Next to the word “Match” is Zayin’s name in big fat letters. This can’t be right.
I pull out multiple files, finding Killuk’s and Zayin’s. No mistakes in sight. I can feel myself choking up. This can’t be the final answer for Killuk and me. My eyes scroll along the shelves until I find a box at the end marked Null Applicants. Surely there has to be something in there. I dig through the box, finding old papers from applicants that couldn’t be matched up. Nothing with our names on it, but I’m surprised to find Jasmine’s name at the bottom of the box.
I take our files and tuck them under my arm, disappointed that I couldn’t do anything else for Killuk and me. As I head towards the door, to leave, something else catches my eye. It’s a shimmering desk plate - Kate’s. This must be her computer. I know she has something to do with this whole mix up, especially since I’ve seen her talking with Zayin outside of my room.
The computer needs a password. If she’s anything like me, she would keep a notebook full of passwords hidden somewhere; maybe in her desk. I search the drawers, pulling out various papers and signed contracts. I can’t find a notebook anywhere, and I’m about to give up when my hand brushes against two crumpled paper balls tucked away in the back of the drawer. My heart jumps at the sight of them, and I quickly pull them out and shut the drawer, unfolding the papers as soon as I can.
The first one is a piece of white paper, covered in dollar signs, showing conversions from Avroxee money into Earth money. A huge number is circled at the bottom, almost ten thousand dollars! Maybe Kate was just figuring out her salary for the year. I flip the paper over and my eyes widen.
Staring back at me is…me! It’s my photo, the same as the one in my file. There’s a whole other file sheet, with the same health records displayed and everything.
The only difference is that next to the word “Match,” is Killuk’s name.
A smile spreads across my face. I can’t believe it. It’s been hiding here the whole time. I excitedly open up the other paper ball and see Killuk’s picture. My name is clearly printed in the match section. It’s all here in front of me. Now we have actual proof that we’re supposed to be together. I almost want to cry, but I have an incredible task ahead of me. I had to get these to Killuk right away, so we can figure out what to do next.
I run through the streets, my findings swimming through my head. We were switched on purpose - but why? I can still see the numbers in front of me. Ten thousand dollars is an incredible amount of money. I feel frustrated and filled with disgust that someone would manipulate my fate like this. However, the satisfaction of knowing that Killuk and I can be together rightfully fuels me to keep running faster and faster.
Then, something stops me, and I’m filled with a bone-chilling fear as I hear the words, “There she is!” I turn on my heels, only to see Zayin’s henchmen standing right behind me. Before I can run again, a large hand grabs my shoulder. I try to scream and kick, but my mouth is covered and I’m dragged off the path into the jungle.
I panic that all of this was for nothing. I found out the truth, but now Killuk will never get to know it. Where are these guys taking me? I can only wish, silently, that Killuk is out there and he knows where to find me…and hopefully I’ll still be alive.
CHAPTER 8: LOCKED IN
KILLUK
When night finally came and I hadn’t heard anything from Izzy, I knew something was wrong. I could only hope that she had found my message, but there was really only one way to find out.
Ava was extremely upset that I had to burst into her room, as she was occupied with one of her many Avroxee suitors when I walked in. However, once she saw the dagger in my hands, she promptly let me outside onto the balcony. I could hear Zayin arguing with his Avroxee bodyguards from inside Izzy’s room, which was a dead giveaway that she wasn’t in there. I reached across from Ava’s balcony for the plant on Izzy’s, gently nudging the pot so it wouldn’t fall off clumsily.
I was pleased to find a note underneath it. She had gone off by herself, and since she hadn’t come find me, I could only assume that things hadn’t worked out as well as she had planned. Still, I knew just where to find her, and I hoped that I had enough time.
Now, I’m hiding in the bushes surrounding the facility, pulling on a pair of trousers that I stole from the Avroxee cleaning the place. I’m not good at fighting, but it doesn’t mean I can’t drop a good sneak attack every now and then. I gather up the spilled cleaning supplies and make my way into the building, scoping out any leads to where Izzy might be. As I’m sweeping one of the floors, I hear someone mumble something about “the Earth girl in the board room.” Of course a facility like this wouldn’t have prison cells or anything, so I make my way towards the restricted section.
I get a lot of suspicious glances on my way down the hall, but I just smile and nod, doing the best I can to blend in. I locate the boardroom, properly labeled by a plaque on the doorway. I grab the handle but it’s locked. I search the cart of cleaning supplies, suddenly cursing that I don’t have any of the keys. I must have left them on the Avroxee outside when I undressed him!
I hear voices from an open doorway in the hall. I push my cart closer to it, quickly improvising as I step inside. There are a few facility members there, and I recognize one of them as one of the heads of matchmaking - her glasses always looking intimidating. The facility members hush a
s they look up at me.
“Trash?” I ask them. They relax a bit, pointing to a full trashcan on the floor near a counter. I go for the bin, and notice the glimmer of a set of keys on the counter.
I look at the facility members, lost again in a quieter conversation. I cough as I pick up the bin, holding it near the counter and sweeping the keys into the trash in one quick motion. I nod at them as I leave the room, quickly trying each key until the door to the boardroom clicks open.
“Killuk!” Isabel exclaims as she wraps her arms around me. I can feel a crinkle against her chest as we embrace.
“What’s that?” I ask.
“No time to explain!” Izzy says. “We have to get out of here before they come back for me.”
I push aside several items on the cart, and tuck Isabel underneath some bags of garbage before I saunter down the hallway. In just a few short moments, we’re back outside. I want to know everything that she knows. The tension hovering above my head has been too much these past few days.
“What did they do to you?” I ask her.
She shakes her head. “Nothing,” she says. “I tried to find you, but I was grabbed by Zayin’s creeps and they brought me back here. Listen, I found out the truth about us.” She pats her chest, and I can hear the crinkling sound again, like paper.
“We can’t stay here,” I tell her. “They’ll be checking your room and my hut near the training center.”
“Where do we go?” She says, worried. I grab her by the hand.
I have my own private place where we can finally be alone.
Izzy wrings out her hair as she examines the rows of hieroglyphs on the wall.
“Damn, that was quite the swim,” she says. “What is this place?”
“My private island,” I tell her. “I come here when I don’t feel like doing my chores, or whenever I want to be alone after training.”
“Training sounds like the most boring thing in the world,” she says, sitting next to me.
“That’s partially why I signed up for the mating program,” I explain. “If I can find a mate, I won’t have to be part of the military.”
“Oh, so you just wanted to get out of your job?” She asks, slightly nervous. I wrap my arm around her shoulder; her skin is still wet from the ocean.
“I had a crazy dream,” I tell her. “If I could find a mate, maybe she would want to come with me. I’ve always wanted to sail across Avrox, or any planet, really. Any excuse to get out of here.”
“I’ve been there,” Izzy says. “I broke up with my boyfriend. Now, he was really crazy. But, I’ve been kind of wandering myself these days. I mean, I have friends and they’re great. Most of the time, though, I feel like I’m just sitting around, you know? And then I heard about Avrox, this beautiful world hidden in the galaxy, and I just knew I had to get myself here.” She looks over at me with a bright smile.
“I’m glad you made it,” I tell her softly.
Her eyes widen, remembering something. “I hope these didn’t get wet.” She leans over to a pile of fabric and unwraps it in her lap, sighing heavily with relief. Inside is a clump of parchment rolled up into a neat ball.
“What is that?” I ask her. She excitedly opens up the papers, showing me the contents.
“Look,” she says, pointing to them. “They’re copies of our files from the facility! It’s clearly printed on each other’s papers that we were supposed to be matched together.”
I look at the paper thoroughly, surprised to see each other’s names written on the other’s file. “So it’s true, then,” I say. “There was some kind of mix-up.”
“Not a mix-up,” she explains. “This was clearly done on purpose. See the money conversions on the back of my sheet? Someone was negotiating with Kate since she works in the matchmaking department. That’s a ton of money where I come from.”
“Who do you think it is?” I ask. Izzy throws her hands up. “Isn’t it obvious?” She says. “Zayin has been keeping his henchmen close to me since day one. I had to climb out the window even to get this information. They were definitely the ones watching us the other night.”
“That’s how the dagger got in my room,” I say, piecing it together.
We sit in silence for a moment, our minds reeling with all this new information.
“How many others do you think were influenced this way?” I ask.
Izzy shakes her head. “I don’t know. But what really matters is that we know the truth now, Killuk,” She looks over at me, placing her warm hand on my cheek like she did the other night. I close my eyes at her touch. “We’re not crazy,” she says. “I’ve been called crazy my whole life. For once, I’m glad that I found Avrox…that I found you.”
I’m swelling with so many emotions right now. For once, I don’t have this terrifying feeling of someone watching over me. Here in the safety of this abandoned temple we can finally be alone, and that fills me with a sudden rush of fear and excitement. Isabel looks at me with such a beautifully soft expression, almost like she did when I first saw her in her dreams.
Now that she’s here in front of me, I won’t have to imagine the possibilities. She’s my mate, and I am hers, and we have a duty to fulfill. I feel as if I’m no longer in control of myself as I pull her face closer to mine. She closes her eyes, waiting as my lips press against hers and we can finally share a kiss without fear. I realize that I’ve been waiting for something like this my whole life.
Our kisses are more passionate, as we indulge in these feelings that we couldn’t express before. She slips her tongue past my lips and I’ve overcome with want for her and her luscious body. Her hands search up and down my body, pulling at my wet garments.
“Let’s get these off,” she says smoothly as she unwraps my tunic, slowly pulling at the sash before peeling back each layer. She’s giving me this daring look, her eyes watching me as if she’s got something really good planned.
She touches my chest; her fingertips soft as they seek lower down my abs and I take off my shirt. I’ve waited long enough for this, and my patience has run out. I reach for her robes, slipping them off of her smooth shoulders. Her skin looks incredibly soft. She looks up and me and bites her lip, anticipating whatever will happen next.
“Like what you see?” She asks softly as I find myself in awe of her voluptuous breasts right in front of me. I can only muster a nod as I take one of them in my hand, gently rolling my thumb over the bud as I keep kissing her, moving towards her neck. Her arms wrap around my waist as she pulls herself on top of me. Now we’re really getting somewhere. I can’t help but stare at her tits, and I don’t stop myself from putting my face right in between them, breathing in her scent.
She’s only wearing the final layer now, a thin pair of underwear that’s keeping me from really indulging myself. I feel myself pulsing, as I’m fully aroused, yearning to enter her. She pulls away from my kisses, shocked to feel me when I brush up against her. Her hands travel in between my legs, and my eyes roll back as she gently strokes my shaft, up and down, in flawlessly smooth motions.
To my surprise, she sits back, her head bending forward as her lips take hold on the tip of my cock. She sucks on it, very softly. Then, she slowly runs her tongue along my shaft as her lips gradually swallow the rest of me. I reach for her hair, clutching it as she moves her head back and forth. Pleasure radiates from every inch of my body as she takes me out of her mouth, playfully licking the droplets of warmth that have seeped out from me.
This is too much at this point. I need her, and I need her now. I lay her down on her back. She’s surprised at my forceful approach, but she can’t wait for me to get inside of her. I stroke my cock, preparing myself as I eye that pair of blue underwear. But I won’t let myself take her just yet. I have a favor that I have to return. I pull down the small scrap of fabric over her knees, gently kissing one of them as I throw that final layer aside. I kiss her, softly, up her leg, over her thigh, until I’m in between her legs. I clasp my lips over her warm, del
icate vulva, finally getting a real taste of her. She’s sweet, not to mention soaking wet. My tongue searches in between her lips, just barely inserting itself towards her most delicate area. She moans as I gently suck on her, lapping my tongue over her sensitive bundle of nerves.
I take it further, carefully playing with her with my fingers as I continue to lick her. I insert them gradually inside of her, making her moan even louder. I feel for just the right spot, gently bending my fingers back and forth to stimulate her until she’s practically begging,
“Fuck me, Killuk.”
Gods, I’ve been dying to hear her say those words. Without any hesitation I spread apart her legs, finally taking my cock and rubbing the tip of it in between her lips.
“Stop playing around,” she demands. “Give it to me.”
“Whatever you say, mate.” I tell her as I gradually insert myself into her. She’s so tight, but after a few gentle thrusts she swallows me whole. We both moan in ecstasy as we feel ourselves finally becoming one.
Her breasts are pressed against me as I slide in and out, feeling the warmth and wetness between us. She pushes on my chest, and I sit up as she pulls herself onto my lap, grinding into me. I can’t help but notice the cute little alien tattoo on her ribs as I grab onto her hips and reach around for her ass. It’s so firm in my hands, and the harder I grab it the faster she grinds into me. I pull her further into me, creating a steady rhythm of thrusts that make her want to scream.
Her tits look amazing as they bounce in my face. I can feel myself getting closer and closer to finishing, but I’m not ready to stop just yet.
“Get on your knees,” I tell her firmly. She listens, arching her back just right as she gets on her hands and knees. Her ass looks amazing from this angle, and I surprise her as I slide into her again and again. I’m clutching her waist while she rocks back and forth, letting me deeper inside of her. She’s dripping all over me now, and I pull her up to her knees as I thrust, reaching around to play with her clit.
The Avroxee Mates Series: Boxset Bks 1-3 Page 17