by Ruby Scott
“That’s fair,” he said. “I don’t expect you to after how poorly I’ve handled this. I’m sorry.” He bit his lip and seemed to want to say more, but he changed his mind.
Jen ignored his apology. “So you’re an alien?”
Owen’s eyes widened in surprise. “Uh…yes. I assumed you would think I was just a human with a spaceship, but I’m glad I don’t have to explain that part.”
“Why do you look so human?” Jen asked.
“I believe your planet’s Darwin called it convergent evolution,” he said matter-of-factly. “Our two species developed similar traits and appearances because of similar environments and needs.”
Jen blinked. “I didn’t know it was that simple.”
“It is. And we’ve been studying and working with your people for a long time—even learned a great deal from them.”
“Like what?”
Owen’s face grew pensive. “About your cultures, mainly, but you also taught us more than a few neat tips and tricks. We started to more efficiently harness the wind on our planet shortly after we studied your wind energy, for example. It’s increased efficiency by eighty percent globally.”
Jen frowned in confusion. “You guys run on mostly clean energy? I think we probably have more to learn from you.”
“Each of us could still stand to learn from the other,” Owen said. “And that is where you come in.” He smiled, and the intensity sent a tingle down her spine.
She sat up straighter in the soft leather chair. “What do you mean?”
The alien sighed and leaned forward, propping his elbows on his knees. “Our people, the Karifans, have been keeping a brittle peace with our neighboring planet, Tryllmod, for hundreds of years now. Recently, our neighbors decided they wanted to renegotiate their terms of the peace settlement.” He looked her in the eye, and his gaze was sorrowful. “They let us know this by launching weapons into our atmosphere that killed thousands of our people at a time.”
Jen gasped and clapped her hand to her chest. “Someone is trying to wipe out your species?”
“Not wipe it out,” Owen said bitterly. “That would call too much attention to us from the intergalactic council. They just want to make us hurt until we have to give in.”
Despite her anger, Jen was leaning forward in her seat, trying to hear Owen’s soothing voice better, and catch a whiff of the maddening scent he was giving off. “And what do they want?”
“A crop of ours,” he answered, clasping his large, somewhat tanned hands together in front of him. “It’s called the Ula. It resembles corn here on Earth, but golden and silver, like chunks of the precious metal themselves. It sustains our bodies for extraordinarily long times, gives us minor healing powers, and contributes to your longevity.”
“How long do you live?” she asked curiously.
Owen looked uncomfortable. “About six hundred years.”
Jen snorted, then realized he was serious. “Oh, shit.”
“Yeah,” he said, and his eyes were looking everywhere but at her.
Anger started to build in her chest again. “So…we get married and then after eighty years I just die? What is it I’m supposed to be doing for you anyway?”
“I’m getting to that,” he snapped, then immediately sighed and closed his eyes. “I’m sorry. I’m a little antsy because I’m hoping you’ll say yes.”
Jen laughed bitterly, and it stirred pain in the alien’s features. “In case you haven’t noticed, you have me flying through space on a fucking spaceship, Owen. I can’t exactly go anywhere.”
“But if you wanted to leave I wouldn’t stop you, and I’d turn the ship around,” he said fervently. “And I won’t make you do anything you don’t want to do, physically or emotionally. If you decide to just tell me to fuck off, I’ll still help you with your clothing company.”
Jen stared at him for a long while, looking into his cobalt eyes suspiciously. He was gazing back at her calmly, his beautiful features so well composed that she almost had the urge to hit him. His earnestness bothered her even more than his placidity; he seemed to want to make her happy so genuinely and at the expense of anything else that it was almost suspicious. She wanted him to show emotion as badly as she herself wanted to be furious, hysterical, violent—but she couldn’t find any cause to.
Jen assumed it was because of the drugs, but she couldn’t discount the chemistry she knew as between them. Her hands still wanted very badly to touch him, but she couldn’t allow herself to give in while she still didn’t know what was going on. Jen glared at him, but she couldn’t find a trace of deceit, and it frightened her that he was being so open and vulnerable to her. Had he always been this way? He always seemed honest and eager, sure, but now he was looking at her as though she was their only hope. His people must really need my help, she realized.
Jen sighed. “Okay,” she said finally. “Tell me how I can help.”
Owen wasted no time. “The Tryllmods have a power source on their planet that enables them to launch missiles and other weapons. Since they derive their energy for daily life from the planet itself, this gem they use is only for destruction. “
“Gem?”
“Exactly what it sounds,” Owen said in response to her confusion. “A large gemstone that crackles with energy that they can harness. It’s called Truximite, and it resembles onyx in color.” Owen waved his hand a projection screen appeared in mid-air, displaying a jagged rock about the size of Jen’s head. He turned back to her, his features moving across her face as though he wanted to memorize every shape and curve. It unnerved her, being examined so closely—and with such intimacy—by a person who had never seen her in person, but who seemed very fond of her indeed. The rock was colored pitch black and imbued with moving swirls of glistening grey material.
“I’ve never heard of that stone.” Jen looked at the projection uneasily.
“It’s not native to this galaxy,” he said. “It’s only found on a few planets, and Tryllmod is one of them. It harnesses the energy of the atmosphere, and on most planets, it will self-destruct in about a hundred years if it’s not tapped, or you can manipulate it to self-destruct.”
“How big is the blast?” Jen asked, picturing a crater in a planet, like one brought on by the comet that wiped out the dinosaurs on Earth.
“Big enough to take a planet,” he answered grimly, “and cause some damage to its moons, possibly. Total destruction of all life, irrevocably.” He locked eyes with her. “That’s why detonating it is our second choice.”
“I wouldn’t think it was a choice at all!” Jen said indignantly. “It sounds to me like you’re asking me to help you kill a bunch of innocent beings.”
“No,” Owen said heatedly. “I’m asking you to help save two planets, and then destroy one planet full of bloodthirsty monsters if the first plan doesn’t work.”
Jen laughed. “That’s hardly better. It sounds like you’re looking for easy solutions, no matter how cruel.”
Anger occupied his features for a split second, then slipped away.
“Then what do you suggest I do?” he asked, exasperated, and suddenly his eyes were brimming with barely contained emotion; the sight struck her heart abnormally hard, and she was suddenly filled with remorse for her flippancy.. “Ignore this? Let them keep going on and threatening us, killing us? Give them all of our Ula and destroy our lives and livelihood?”
“How about try it the non-violent way first?” Jen spat. “Besides, Mr. Alien Savior, you wrote that ad that I responded to. You knew exactly what you were seeking. Weren’t you looking for someone kind and upwardly mobile? You took care of the latter, now I call the shots with the former. Deal?” She glared at him, daring him to protest, and was infuriated to find that she still wanted to feel his body on hers, and the desire was nearing a distraction.
Owen looked taken aback—which satisfied her anger a little—and his skin flushed a light pink. “Deal. I’m sorry.”
“It’s fine,” Jen said. �
�I just need you to tell me one thing: where exactly do I come in?”
“Protective equipment,” he answered immediately. “I’ve seen your designs for protective combat suits, extra-reinforced SCUBA suits, cut-proof clothing…it’s all quite brilliant.” His eyes glimmered now, and Jen suddenly felt like she was being suffused with a light golden energy that stroked all of her cells like a shiatsu massage.
What the hell? she thought, but she was too blissful to be upset. Is he doing this on purpose?
“I know it sounds…saccharine,” he said, his skin flushing a deeper red. It was very endearing, and she had to struggle, again, to keep herself from running her hands across his body. “But I really admired your work as soon as I saw it. The Truximite emits a powerful wave of energy that destroys our bodies from the inside. We need help taking wave-blocking materials that occur naturally on our planet and making them into protective suits so we can go in and disable the stone. The truth is that I had been searching Earth for an apparel maker, specifically because our people do not traditionally wear much armor, even into battle.”
“How do you protect yourself on your own planet?” she asked.
“Our skin is very tough,” Owen said, “as are our muscle and skeletal systems. We could walk on the bottom of your ocean if we wanted to, or swim through lava.”
“Have you?” Jen asked curiously. She couldn’t help it; she kept picturing him striding at the bottom of the ocean, completely nude, muscles straining against the thousands of tons bearing down on him. She wondered how a body that strong would bear her body writhing on top of it, then quickly shut the image down. She licked her lips involuntarily, and his eyes darted to her mouth and took their time coming back up. Damn it, we can’t get off topic right now.
“Um, yes,” Owen said finally. “Well, not the ocean, the creatures down there are terrifying. But I have done the lava dip. It feels great, probably like how hot tubs feel to humans. Very refreshing and almost cleansing.”
Jen shivered. “That sounds hellish.”
He shrugged. “Anything is bearable if you have the right reasons for it.”
She laughed, and his face registered hurt for a few moments. “I’m sorry,” she said, and meant it. “It’s just…you seem terribly cheesy, very honest, and just all-around unbelievably sweet besides the kidnapping thing.” She gestured to the windows. “How did you decide that destroying an entire planet was an acceptable solution to this?”
He sighed. “It wasn’t, until recently,” he admitted.
Jen frowned. “When did it change?”
He mumbled something and dropped his eyes suddenly.
“What?” Jen said, leaning to try to hear him better.
Owen cleared his throat and raised his eyes to hers again, and Jen felt another current of energy shimmer through her body. “About two months ago, Jen. When I met you.”
You’re joking, she wanted to say—but after their short time together, she knew better than to suggest that. “Why would meeting you change your mind?” she asked instead, fighting a wave of guilt threatening to overcome her.
“Isn’t it obvious?” he asked. When she shook her head, he paused, staring at his hands for nearly a full minute. “I fell in love with you, Jen.”
She felt her eyebrows shoot up, and her heart skipped two full beats. “You’re…in love with me?”
“Yes,” he said, and the exasperation in his voice was clear, raw, and painful. “I’m in love with you. I fell in love with you when you told me about your dream of making the world a safer place for young women, and giving them protection in the meantime, while you find ways to fight those monsters. I fell in love with you watching the way you reacted to a new fabric or material, the sheer force of nature you became when you got an idea in your head. I fell in love with your body and how confident you are in it, even though I’ve still never touched you. I love you, Jen. I can’t deal with the idea of there being a world without you, and if the Tryllmods get past my planet, they’ll sack all the planets in any reachable habitable zone. Even if you won’t be with me, I can’t let that happen. I can’t let anything happen to you.”
He was reaching out to her now, and she’d reached out with her own hand; once their skin touched, it was like a match had been struck. Nerve endings sparkled to life, and the world snapped into a brighter hue before her eyes, the air became clearer and sweeter. Owen pulled her toward him and pressed his lips to hers, and her body reacted so strongly to his touch that it tore a gasp from her throat. Her pussy moistened, and she heard him moan lightly before pulling away—and as soon as he did, everything faded back to normal.
“What the hell was that?” Jen asked, her breath coming a little quicker now.
“It’s a bond,” Owen said quietly, and his eyes were huge as he spoke. “I wasn’t sure until I touched you…but it’s the bond.”
“What bond?” Jen asked, starting to panic. Are we bonded for life?
“Our kind don’t have an English word for it,” he said, frowning. “It’s basically what alerts us to someone who is meant to be with us—which is actually something that can be foretold on our planet, with methods not yet possible on Earth.”
Jen’s heart was racing, but it wasn’t all from fear. What is happening to me?
“So,” she began, “you’re saying we’re meant to be together? I thought this was no-pressure.”
“It is,” Owen promised. “I just didn’t know for sure that were intended bonded mates. I suspected, but humans are so rarely candidates—“
“What does this mean?” Jen cut in, and there were terrifying visions dancing in her head: some huge alien ceremony that sextupled her life span so that she would spend eternity by this alien’s side, obeying who knows what sort of rules and laws. Was this his plan all along?
He sensed the agitation in her, and reached out without thinking. Immediately, her nerves were calmed. “It means that if you want,” he said slowly, “we can mate. And that means our energies are connected for as long as we choose for them to be. We’ll work better together, grow closer, understand each other more. Be able to communicate in different ways. Probably feel a lot closer instantly.” He took a breath and squeezed her hand. “But it doesn’t mean it’s undoable, or that you’re stuck committing to me forever. Our kind has a very different structure from human’s typical mating structure. It’s more fluid and allows for a lot looser interpretations of things like intimacy and romance.”
Jen was nodding, chewing over it all in her head. It made sense for her—she was selected for her protective designs at many of the studios she worked for, and even the US Government had been interested in her designs at one point. But could she stay by his side, afterward, through whatever else? It seemed too good to be true; she wanted to pinch herself, but she was afraid of looking silly.
Jen wanted to stall, so she asked something that had been on her mind.
“What’s up with the colors of your house?” she asked.
Owen laughed. “Did you notice what the colors did when we kissed just now? Everything looks different once you’re mated, and colors look different to me because my eyes are different. It’s a little more vibrant with my eyes.”
“So it’s even more ostentatious?” Jen asked, and Owen laughed again.
She hesitated then, and she felt like he knew what was coming by the change in his posture. “If I stay with you…will we stay on Earth?”
“About half the time,” he answered. “But I’d like to take you traveling, and also to…meet my folks.” His face blushed a brilliant red, and Jen laughed happily.
“But it’s not like a marriage?” she clarified. “You’re not going to belong to me, I won’t belong to you…”
“We’re just two people,” he said, finishing her thought. “Who will love each other side-by-side. And make each other happy while we grow.”
Jen stood and walked over to his chair. “That’s cheesy,” she said.
“I’m sorry,” he said as she bent to
ward him and kissed his lips.
When they separated, they were both gasping. “I like cheesy,” Jen said finally. She smiled at him, and the burning desire suddenly alive in his gaze let her know he saw the heat in hers.
She undressed first, shivering in pleasure when his dark eyes roved hungrily over her body as she revealed more of herself to him. Finally, she stood before him completely nude, and she motioned for him to follow suit. His hands unbuttoned his shirt quickly, and he pushed his pants and boxers down in one motion, freeing his raging erection with an almost comical bounce as it slipped past his waistband.
He held one hand out to her, and Jen moved forward without even thinking. Owen leaned down to kiss her, slipping his tongue between her lips as soon as he slipped his arms around the curve of her waist. His cock pressed against the front of her body, and as they kissed, she found herself rocking against the shaft with slow, gentle motions. Owen guided her to the floor and spread both of her thick tanned thighs with his hands; he gasped as he looked down at her wet slit, his hand moving automatically to wrap around his shaft.
“Are you ready?” he asked, his voice low and husky.
Jen could only nod, her body too full of desire to speak.
He pressed the head of his cock against her opening and she pushed upward with her hips to welcome him inside her. Jen gasped suddenly as he filled her, stretching every nerve ending in her pussy with his rigid cock. Owen slipped one hand beneath her to grip her ass, probing another sharp gasp from her, and started to pump his hips.
“Oh!” Jen cried as pleasure shot through her body. He pulled his hips back slowly, then rushed forward, slamming his body against her until he was inside her, hilt deep. His gorgeous face was slack with concentration, and Jen reached up to bury one hand in his soft curls as he slowly fucked her on the foam floor. He was longer than anyone she’d ever been with, so his body was reaching places inside her she never knew needed to be reached. His strokes were stoking a fire inside, becoming harder and faster with each moment.