by Marie Dry
Ignoring her hands caressing his naked body, he loomed over her and kissed her stomach, worked his way up until his nose touched the underside of her breasts. He nibbled and licked his way to her nipple and she grabbed his head when he didn’t take it in his mouth.
“Take me into your mouth.’
He opened his mouth over her nipple, nipped it with his lips.
“For a guy who’s never done this before, you sure know your way around a woman’s body.”
He stilled, speared her with eyes the color of freshly spilled blood. “Zyrgins has superior knowledge imprinted on every subject.”
“And they’re so humble too.”
His straight forward in your face arrogance amused her. She despised the Zyrgins, was determined not to allow them to take the earth, and still he charmed her. Why did this green and gold skinned alien with his bald and ridged head affect her like this?
“We do not need to be humble.”
He laid her down on the bed. It was soft and cool against her bare back. He might be the enemy, but her breath caught when he lay down, half over her. He was the epitome of male beauty. His graceful predatory way of moving reminded her of a tiger she’d once seen on a program about extinct animals.
He gazed down at her and the atmosphere around them changed into a heated cauldron of lust and pleasure ready to explode.
He kissed and caressed her until every nerve in her body throbbed with pleasure and she begged him to take her.
“Don’t torture me anymore alien. I ache deep inside where I need you to be.”
He stilled and then touched her, his thumb flicking gently over her clit, his finger inside her, moving in and out as if he wanted to soothe the ache. Or build it until it consumed her.
Marcie clamped her thighs around his hand, unable to do anything else.
He withdrew his hand and she moaned, only to grab his shoulders when he settled between her thighs in a smooth predatory move that conquered her.
When, at last, he entered her, she shuddered with the sheer pleasure and came on his third stroke. She felt him stiffen, heard his roar, and came again.
She lay boneless with pleasure. How would it feel if he considered her worthy of the first knowing? Would it be more intense, could it be more intense? Would he show some emotion? She rolled until she had her back to him. Her body was pleasantly sated and Zacar couldn’t execute her now. Mission accomplished
“I’ll miss you when I go,” she whispered. It worried her that there was some truth in her practiced sentence.
“I will never let you go,” he said quietly and there was absolute truth in his words. It was strange to be the focus of such intensity.
“In the end, you won’t have a choice,” she said equally quiet.
They were on opposing forces and, when those forces clashed, they would be torn apart. Parnell wouldn’t let her go and he’d bomb the whole mountain before he’d allow aliens to inhabit it.
“Go to sleep, human.”
The dream stole her between wakefulness and sleep...
***
The last sun of the summer season baked down on her as she walked home from school. She’d have loved to go with the other girls to Cynthia’s place, but her father didn’t want her socialising during the week. She knew her friend Joyce would’ve rebelled against such strict rules, especially since they weren’t in junior school anymore. Carin would be downright scathing. Maeve shivered and clenched the handle of her satchel. Their fathers didn’t believe in the kind of discipline hers did. Sometimes she thought if she wasn’t such a good cook, he’d have no use for her.
Something shined bright in the sunlight. She stopped and stared at the hover craft in front of their house. Everyone knew about hovercrafts. She doubted anyone in No Name Town had ever seen one. Among the designs she did when her father thought she’d gone to sleep was one for a hovercraft. She’d adjusted many of the existing features to make it more aero dynamic.
Excited to meet the owner of the luxury vehicle, she rushed inside. In the door of their small sitting room with its dull brown furniture, she stopped and composed herself. Father didn’t approve of impulsive behavior.
A tall very distinguished-looking man sat in her father’s favorite chair. His clothes were expensive--better quality than she’d seen, even when they lived in the city.
“Good afternoon, Father,” she said.
“Good afternoon, Maeve. You may make us some coffee. First I want you to meet my friend Agent Parnell.”
She didn’t know if she should shake his hand or just greet him. He made it easy for her, rising and holding out his hand.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” he said and she was dazzled at being treated like a grown up.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you too, sir,” she said, shy of this sophisticated stranger in their humble living room.
Parnell turned to her father. “You have raised her well. She is polite and biddable.”
Unease slithered down her spine. She excused herself and prepared the coffee and tray properly, the way her mother had taught her. Her father liked things done a certain way and her mother had always tried to satisfy him.
Maeve carefully put the tray down and served them. She took a seat in the farthest corner, hoping her father would allow her to take coffee with them and talk to their guest about his hovercraft. Her friends would be so jealous. Maybe Alex would even talk to her.
She sat quietly while they talked, burning to ask Agent Parnell for a ride in the hovercraft. At last, her father at last turned to her.
You are to go with Agent Parnell. He’s come to take you for training.”
“Training,” she asked, dazed. Then she realized what he’d said. “I don’t want to go away.” She’d just started to make friends. She didn’t want to be uprooted again. Parnell suddenly looked sinister.
“Do not be tiresome, Maeve.” That’s what Father always said. No matter what she did, how hard she tried to please him. ‘Do not be tiresome’ were the words she lived by. “You will go with Agent Parnell.”
“Please, Father, won’t you reconsider? I don’t want to leave you.” He was strict and not very loving, but he was all she had left.
“Do I need to teach you obedience?” her father asked in that voice she never argued with.
“I’ll go and pack,” she said dully. If she pretended to be packing, she could get her thoughts together and find a way to change his mind. Her heartbeat sped up. Or she could jump out the window and hide until Parnell had gone.
“You won’t need anything,” Agent Parnell said.
“But my clothes, Mom’s picture--”
“You will not need that where you’re going.”
“No, I’m not going without Mom’s picture.” It was all she had of the time when she had love and laughter in her life.
“Do not be tiresome, Maeve.”
“Please, I’m not being tiresome. I just want Mom’s picture.”
Parnell took her arm and dragged her to the front door. She screamed.
“Please let me have her picture.”
“Marcie,” Agent Parnell said and she frowned. He sounded wrong. And why did he call her that? Was it a new assignment?
“At least let me take Mom’s picture,” she begged the father who never loved her.
“Marcie, wake up.”
***
She opened her eyes. A monster loomed over her.
CHAPTER 4
An enormous man-reptile with creepy green skin crouched over her. Stared at her with dead, ink-black eyes. A nightmare, she was having a nightmare. That’s the only way to explain waking up in bed with a creature next to her. Her whimper sounded real, but this had to be a nightmare.
“Marcie.”
“Oh God, it can talk.”
“Marcie, stop this,” the reptile said in a voice more like a bear than a reptile. It was deep and rough, rumbling, as if someone had taken some of the silver metal surrounding them and was scraping it togeth
er. He talked in a measured way, almost as if English was his second language. Which was a really stupid thought because reptiles wouldn’t speak English. They wouldn’t sound so sexy either.
Sharp cheekbones and a strong jaw with tough looking green and bronze skin gave it a menacing look. A ridge that reminded her of a demonic horn bisected his bald head and flowed into a prominent nose. She lay petrified, as if through a fog, and saw that red drenched his eyes like blood spurting from an artery freshly cut.
There was a terrible noise in her ears. She wanted to move, to jump out of the hard bed, run, and never look back. The mattress beneath her, the stickiness on her thighs, and being naked registered. Oh God, she was in bed with a monster.
In bed. Naked.
“Marcie, stop screaming.”
Fear weighed her down and her mind screamed at her body to move, to get away from the danger. That terrible noise was her own screaming and she couldn’t make herself stop. Why didn’t she know what was happening? How did she get here?
“Marcie, did you have human dreaming?”
She saw the monster crouch over her as though through a tunnel. His green and copper skin distorted and, for one hellish moment, huge teeth filled her whole vision.
She managed to stop that awful screaming, to close her mouth.
Move, she shouted at her body. She tried to inch away from him, to jump out of the bed, but her blood had turned to lead, her body to stone. She tried to mumble the prayer her mother had taught her. Only ragged breaths escaped. Her lips wouldn’t shape words.
“You had a bad dream?” The fact that it spoke English made it even scarier.
Large incisors, framed by his savage face, gleamed in the faint light. The color of his eyes changed, with red tendrils slowly creeping into the black.
Terrible screams bounced against the sinister looking silver walls and echoed.
He grabbed her shoulders and shook her. “Quiet, human.”
She thought she saw him shake his head, but she was too panicked to really register anything. She was the one making that terrible noise again. She kept screaming. Maybe if she screamed loud enough, she’d wake up.
“Quiet,” he roared.
She stopped briefly, saw him lift a hand tipped with terrible claws, and screamed again, harder this time. He could kill her with one slice of those claws. Maybe now that he’d had his way with her that was his plan.
“Marcie, stop screaming or I’ll make you.”
She stopped and stared at him. “Who’s Marcie?”
He leaned down, his chest pressed into her. He was warm, his skin leathery with the muscles very pronounced. “What game are you playing, human?”
This couldn’t be happening. She looked around, hoping she’d see her own bedroom with her father just down the hall. He was the sheriff. He didn’t love her, but he would protect her.
She pushed against the thing and could’ve cried in relief when it moved back. She threw off the soft metal-like blanket covering her and jumped out of bed. She whimpered when she looked down and saw her naked body. Clutching her arms around herself she glanced around, frantic for something to cover her body. Everywhere she turned, gleaming silver walls surrounded her with no windows and no door.
It had to be some kind of cage where his kind kept humans. But to what end? What if she was an after-sex snack?
Whimpering, she ran and crouched in the corner.
The man-reptile regarded her antics without moving.
“No more screaming,” the being said.
She barely heard him. Her throat muscles choked her as she stared down at a stranger’s naked body. She clasped her arms around her large breasts, hoping her legs covered her sex. “I’m naked, why am I naked?”
Her voice was wrong too, pitched too high. It emerged shrill, like a nail scraped over a chalkboard, and she knew that was not her voice. That wasn’t what she sounded like.
“I took off your clothes before we had sex,” he said, matter of fact.
She opened her mouth to scream again and he was on her, placed a huge green and gold palm over her mouth. He’d been shades of green before, now he changed color to copper green.
“You’re not even human, how could I have sex with you?” she mumbled behind his palm. His skin was warm and leathery against her lips. “How come you changed color?”
“I will take my hand away. No more screaming.”
She nodded, wanted to scream and scream again, but didn’t dare. He lifted his hand and sat back from her. His naked body loomed over hers, making her feel small. If only she knew what was happening.
“What are you?” she whispered.
“Do not pretend not to know.”
“Please, what’s happening? I don’t understand.” Her mind felt foggy, the vague echoes of memory disappeared, leaving her a blank cartridge. Even if she wanted to, she couldn’t scream now. Panic had her by the throat and it squeezed.
He leaned closer, his hand on the nape of her neck. “What kind of game are you playing now?”
She bit her sore lip to stop its trembling. Her muscles ached. What had he done to her? Did she get into his bed of her own free will? His hand at the back of her neck was warm. If she closed her eyes, she could almost fool herself that it was a comforting touch. Did she have to sleep with him to save her life?
She curled deeper into the corner, pressed her knees against her naked breasts, and grabbed handfuls of red hair. Red?
“This is wrong. My hair isn’t red,” she wailed.
Everything was wrong, her skin, the big breasts on her chest, her voice. She knew it was wrong, but she didn’t know what it was supposed to be like.
“You are making no sense, human.”
“This isn’t real, you’re not real. I’m dreaming. Any time now I’m going to wake up and Father will be angry that I disturbed his sleep.” The knowledge of her father and a vague image of a girlish room disappeared. She put her hands over her ears and closed her eyes. “Wake up. I have to wake up. When I open my eyes, the man reptile will be gone. And I’ll know who I am.”
“Human, stop this.”
This couldn’t be real, therefore it had to be a hallucination. “You’re not here.” Still with her eyes closed, she rocked her aching body. “I won’t talk to a hallucination. Man reptiles do not exist, so this cannot be real.”
“Stop this, Marcie.”
He was close, too close. She could feel his breath on her face. No, it was her imagination. She was safe in her bed and she was having a nightmare.
“Who’s Marcie?” Dammit, she wasn’t going to talk to her delusion.
“You’re Marcie. You know this.”
She opened her eyes and he still crouched in front of her, still naked. “You’re not real. I’m hallucinating.”
Keeping a wary eye on him and especially those sharp looking teeth, she pressed her forefinger against his chest. His skin was warm and not slimy at all. And too solid. His face remained expressionless. Why couldn’t she read his face? She needed to know what he was thinking, so she could make sure not to anger him. If she made him angry, he could hurt her terribly.
She laid her head on her knees and wept. If this was real, she didn’t know what to do.
“Marcie.”
She wept harder, because he might call her Marcie, but she knew it wasn’t her name. The problem was, she didn’t know her name. She knew nothing. Not who she was, where she was, or how she came to be here.
It lifted her head with a dangerous looking claw, stared at her with unblinking red eyes, and made a number of grunting sounds.
She wanted to push him away. He was huge, gold, and overly muscled. She pushed his hand...claw, whatever...away from her chin, put her head on her knees, and continued to sob. She needed to get tough and escape this man reptile thing. But right now she was too overwhelmed with fear.
“I’m going to get you some clothes. If you scream or even talk, I’ll gag you.”
She nodded and clutched her knees
tighter. She’d do just about anything to have clothes. To cover this strange body she inhabited. Maybe she could let him think she would cooperate and then, when he relaxed his guard, she could escape. But to where? She didn’t even know where she was.
“Are you a mutant?”
“No I’m a Zyrgin.
He got up and took something out of the wall and then placed what looked like jeans and a T-shirt on the bed. “Be quick.” He walked out without bothering to cover up.
If she hadn’t been so freaked out, she might have noticed that he was muscled and well proportioned. She jumped up and, in spite of the way her body ached, she hurried into the jeans and T-shirt. A bath, to wash off the stuff on her thighs and the sweat, would’ve been nice, but she wasn’t going to do that with him around. She’d see to it as soon as she escaped.
She didn’t see a bra and didn’t want to waste time searching for one when he could walk back in at any moment.
Too soon, the scary being came back, dressed in silver pants, his torso still naked. He looked her up and down, almost as if he wanted to make sure she was dressed. He grated something that sounded like he chewed rocks while clearing his throat. Another one walked in.
She stumbled back until she pressed her spine against the wall. “Oh, God, I’m in a nest of man-reptiles.”
A movement behind it caught her eyes. A tall woman with long brown hair stood behind the second man reptile.
“Did they capture you and eat your brain too?” She heard herself say the stupid words, but couldn’t stop. This was a dream, so it didn’t matter if she made a fool of herself.
“Uh, no,” the woman said, sounding a little dazed.
“Please talk to her, Mother. She is not making sense and she screams whenever I try to approach her,” the lizard man she’d woken up with said.
Mother? This human-looking woman was that thing’s mother?
Another huge man reptile thing stepped in front of the woman. He reminded her a bit of her reptile. She’d almost say he was scarier but hers was pretty scary. She was definitely dreaming, or so crazy she was in a white padded room, having drug-induced hallucinations. That’s the only reason she’d think of this creature as hers.