The battle continued for what felt like hours, although it couldn’t have really been more than twenty minutes. The dragons dove down; releasing their flames, then once again darted up into the air, moving just out of the line of fire the guns and tanks were shooting at them.
When she saw one tank turn its gun in Amias’ direction, Nicole wanted to scream out. She wanted to warn him. He was distracted, trying to fight off a line of men with guns and riot shields who were also setting their sights on him. She pushed herself up just as the blast rang out. It was the only sound she heard before the loud crash that accompanied his fall.
When he hit the ground, his body shook. The impact must have startled him because he transformed quickly back into his human form. She watched as he tried to push himself up to his feet, but fell back to the ground. He stumbled backward, trying to distance himself from the fight.
She couldn’t remain still any longer. Against her better judgment, she rushed out onto the battlefield and fell to his side. “You have to get back!” he ordered her, his voice weak and laced with pain.
She ignored him, though. Wrapping her arms around him, she helped him to his feet, and they began to make their way back to where she was taking cover before. His weight leaning on her almost caused her to fall forward twice, but she forced herself to remain upright and continue placing one foot in front of the other. When they reached the entrance to the building, she let him slump to the ground while she reached for her keys, which were still in the lock.
Opening the door, she once again took hold of him and led him inside. They didn’t stop moving back until they turned a corner and took refuge in the long hallway, which led deeper into the high-security facility.
Collapsing onto the ground together, she wrapped her arms around him. He rested his head in her lap and let out a few deep, shaky breaths. She could see that he was losing blood, quickly, and knew that she needed to do something.
“I have to go back out there,” he said weakly.
“No,” she replied firmly. “You have to stay here. You’re hurt!”
“It doesn’t matter,” he coughed. “I have to help my people.”
“You can’t help them in this condition,” she countered, running her hands through his hair trying to ease his pain in any way possible.
He didn’t interject. He just looked up at her with his deep green eyes. As she sat there, stroking his hair, the sounds of the battle going on not far away, he let his eyes close slowly.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Once Amias had drifted off to sleep, Nicole slipped away, searching the rooms around them for some sort of medical kit. When she found what she was looking for, she hurried back to him. He was still lying on the ground, breathing heavily, the large gash in his side still producing unsettling amounts of blood.
When she poured an excessive amount of disinfectant liquid on his wound, his eyes shot open and he let out a gasp of pain. “Shh,” she said to him, reaching out and placing her hand on his face. “I’m sorry, but I need to sew this up.”
He laid his head back down on the ground and stared up at the ceiling above them. The sounds of the fight continued to echo through the building, causing her hands to shake with worry.
As she worked, they remained silent. It took some time, but with enough pressure and a number of stitches she was able to close up the wound and stop the bleeding. When she let out a shaky sigh of relief and leaned back against the cold concrete wall, Amias turned to face her. “It’s bad, Nicole,” he said to her quietly.
“Your wound?” she asked.
“No,” he replied firmly. “The fight. A lot of people are hurt, some dying—on both sides.”
“I should have listened to you sooner,” she choked, tears beginning to burn her eyes. “I should have listened to you when you first told me. I should have let you go then.”
“Don’t,” he said pushing himself up, gritting his teeth when the bolt of pain from his side ran through him. “Don’t blame yourself for this.”
“But I could have prevented it!” she exclaimed, no longer able to hold back the tears.
“I don’t blame you for anything,” he said reaching out and taking her hands in his.
“You tried to warm me…”
“And if you had listened to me, that first day I spoke to you about this, I wouldn’t have had the chance to spend all this time with you.”
She felt a flutter of emotion run through her. The way he looked at her—the way he spoke to her—it was real. It only served to momentarily quell her own anger with herself. “But at what cost?” she said remorsefully, once again letting the sounds of the battle raging on around them fill her senses. “All those lives. I could have stopped this.”
“Nicole,” he said scooting himself closer to her. “If I had wanted to escape, I could have. I did! Twice!” he added with a weak smile. He was right. He was able to break out of his holding cells on two separate occasions, both times to come to her rescue. “I asked you to help me because I trusted you. Not because I needed you to help me.” He released her hands and lifted his to her face, wiping away her tears. “If anyone is to blame for all of this, it’s me.” He sighed. “But there’s no point dwelling on that now.”
“You’re right,” she said nodding her head decisively. “We need to figure out what to do next.”
“There are more of my people,” he replied. “I can sense them. They’re not too far away. I have to go to them.”
She nodded her head, biting her bottom lip to try to keep from letting her hurt show. She knew it was inevitable. She knew he was going to have to leave her, but still, every time the realization washed over her, it left her feeling more and more empty and helpless.
“I don’t want to leave you, either,” he said to her softly, leaning in and kissing her. “But I don’t have another choice. There is no future for me or my people here on Earth.”
“I know,” she said pulling away from him and wiping her cheeks to dry them. “I just don’t know what I’ll do when you’re gone. You’ve changed my life—you’ve changed me. I don’t want to go back to who I was without you.”
“Maybe we don’t have to be separated,” he replied.
“What do you mean?”
“My people, they’re not like yours, Nicole. They’re accepting.”
She looked at him with a hint of disbelief. “I’ve already met your people,” she pointed out. “And they didn’t seem too accepting to me.”
“They were scared,” he pointed out. “I told you before when it comes to the well-being of one of our own we tend to be a little more defensive.” He once again took her hands in his and pulled her close to him. “But you can come with us, Nicole. They will accept you, warmly. They will welcome you and treat you as one of our own.”
She wanted to; more than anything in the world she wanted to go with him. But she still felt apprehensive. “I can’t,” she said finally. “I want to, Amias. I really do. But I don’t think I can. I’m not brave enough—I’m not strong enough to leave my home, my planet! My father, he would…”
“You would be far away from him. He couldn’t control you anymore.”
“I’m sorry,” she said as she leaned in and kissed him.
He released her hands and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her into him. “Then I want to remember everything about you,” he said as he lifted her shirt over her head. He ran his hands over her body, sending shivers running up and down her spine.
She leaned forward, pressing her body to his. He laid back, keeping his hands wrapped around her waist, and pulling her on top of him. He kissed her passionately, and she let her hands slide up and down along his bare skin. Sitting up, her legs on either side of him, she pressed her hand to his chest and felt his heart beating strongly underneath it.
“I love you, Nicole,” he whispered up to her.
“I love you too, Amias,” she said before leaning into him again.
The sounds of the fight happening around
them only spurred her to dive deeper into the moment. The feeling of being with him filled her completely, and as they let their bodies melt together, she felt a surge of longing blaze through her.
His strong body consumed hers, and as their moment of passion became more intense, she couldn’t help but dig her teeth into his neck, as he dug his nails into her back. The delicateness with which he moved the first time was gone. This time was a rush of pure desire—a desire to become one, a desire to hold on to what little time they had together. It was a moment of complete release as they let their emotions fill the room and overtake them both.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Slipping out of the building, Nicole and Amias ducked around the corner and made their way off in the opposite direction of the fight. Their initial plan to take her car was quickly abandoned when they realized that between them and the vehicle was a raging battle.
“What do we do now?” she asked him as they made their way back towards the Gen-Lab main campus.
“Don’t worry,” he said wrapping his arm around her and leading her to the parking lot. “I have an idea.” He walked over to one of the handful of cars parked there. He smiled at her over his shoulder as he threw his elbow into the window of the car, breaking it upon impact.
The car let out a loud alarm, which he was able to quickly deactivate by pulling at a few wires under the steering wheel. She stood, wide-eyed, as she watched him fidget around with one wire then another. “How do you know how to do that?” she asked in amazement when the car’s engine buzzed to life.
“I told you,” he said as he slid into the driver’s seat and waited for her to run around the car to get in as well. “I was a pilot back home.”
“A pilot is one thing,” she said as he backed the car out of the lot and took off down the road. “A car thief is another.”
“It’s not that complicated,” he explained. “Once you understand the workings of a complex engine like the ones we have, something as simple as a car is nothing really.”
They drove for some time, the wind whipping into the car through the broken window. “Where will you go?” she asked him after they were sure they were far enough from the fight and were safe.
“I don’t know,” he answered, not taking his eyes off the road. “We’re going to have to keep searching for a place to settle.”
“It has to be hard,” she said trying to imagine how he must feel, “not having anywhere to call home, being constantly on the move.”
“It is,” he said reaching out and taking her hand in his, still keeping his gaze focused ahead of him. “But you want to know something?”
“Sure.”
“Leaving Zexilon was sad; it was scary venturing out, not knowing if we would ever find somewhere to call home again.”
“I imagine.”
“But leaving you now—it’s harder than that.”
She leaned in and rested her head on his shoulder, letting the heavy feeling in her chest consume her. She closed her eyes and listened to the sound of the wind whirling around them, trying not to give in to her sadness. It wasn’t long before she drifted to sleep, letting the safe, secure feeling of being with him comfort her one last time.
When she woke up, they had arrived at their destination. Before her, she saw an enormous, sleek, metallic ship. “Unbelievable,” she whispered, sitting up and wiping the sleep from her eyes, not fully comprehending what she was seeing.
Amias turned and smiled at her, laughing slightly. “I’m guessing you’ve never seen one of these before.”
“It looks like something out of a movie,” she replied, unable to pull her eyes away.
When he parked the car, they both got out. She continued to observe the massive construction. It looked large enough to house a small city. The entire thing seemed to be made of windows, although she couldn’t see inside any of them. “Amias!” she heard a woman’s voice call out.
Shifting her attention from the ship to what was going on in front of it; she saw a small group of people running in their direction. “Nayara!” Amias called out to the woman who was leading the rest.
When they met, they threw their arms around each other and hugged happily. Turning to Nicole, Amias made a quick formal introduction. “Nicole,” he said holding out his hand for her to take it. “This is Nayara. She’s another pilot in my fleet.”
“Nice to meet you,” Nicole replied, her face blushing slightly.
“You too,” the woman smiled at her kindly. “Is she coming with us?” she asked Amias.
“No,” he said dejectedly. “She had things she needs to do here.”
“Well,” the lady said looking between them. Remembering what Amias had told her about his kind’s abilities to read emotions, she wondered if Nayara could sense the feelings shared between the two of them. “I’m sorry to say it,” she continued. “But we have to get going, soon.”
“I’ll be right there,” he answered her. When she had walked away and out of earshot Amias turned to Nicole, placing his hand on her shoulders and looking down at her sadly. “I don’t want to leave you,” he whispered.
“I don’t want you to go,” Nicole replied, throwing her arms around him and holding him close.
“You can change your mind,” he said softly. “You can come with us.”
The idea suddenly seemed like the only option. She didn’t know why she had considered anything else before. Standing there, his arms wrapped around her, she was complete. There was nothing here for her. She was about to tell him that she would—she would go with him—when the sound of a gun firing rang through the air.
“What was that?” she asked pulling away from him and looking in the direction the sound came from. Not far from where they were, she saw a caravan of vehicles moving rapidly in their direction. Standing on the bed of one of the trucks, wielding a very large gun was her father.
“Get back here!” she heard Nayara’s voice yell to them to take cover.
Amias grabbed her hand and hurriedly led her towards the ship. “Nicole!” she heard her father’s voice call to her. Stopping abruptly and turning to face him, she saw that they had stopped their cars just about twenty yards from where she and Amias were standing. “Nicole! What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
“Stay away!” Amias yelled in return, warning him not to make a move in their direction.
“You shut the hell up!” her father replied. “I’m speaking to my daughter!”
Nicole tried to take a step forward, but Amias kept a firm hold on her hand. “I have to go,” she said turning to look up at him. “If I go to him, maybe he’ll let your people go peacefully.”
The sound of guns being loaded and cocked around them seemed to be deafening. “No,” Amias said to her firmly. “It doesn’t matter. He won’t let us leave, no matter what.”
Before she can respond, a loud crack filled the air. “Someone fired! You know what to do, boys,” Nayara said to her group.
They all began to change quickly, filling the air with a heavy heat and thick cloud of smoke. “Nicole,” Amias said, leaning in so that she could hear him over the commotion going on around them. “You have to believe me. I know. I can sense it. He’s not going to stop!”
Around them, a battle suddenly broke out. She tried to make out the figures darting back and forth, but the smoke still hung in the air making it hard to see exactly what was happening. “Stay here!” Amias ordered her.
“Okay,” she agreed, too afraid to do anything else.
As he took off to join his people in the fight Nicole stood, motionless, watching the two sides attack. The air was filled with tension and a hint of confusion as the cloud of smoke prevented her father’s men from seeing their targets clearly.
At first, she didn’t feel it—the stray bullet that hit her. She was too paralyzed by fear that her senses refused to register the blow. But when she looked down and saw a red stain forming around her left shoulder her body jolted suddenly with pain.
Letting out a scream, she fell to the ground, clutching her arm and trying to stop the bleeding. The sounds around her became muffled, and her vision blurry. The last thing she remembered seeing was her father’s face, staring at her from a distance, the same look of disappointment spread across it that he always had for her.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
When she woke up, she was in a hospital room. Her body ached, and her head was pounding. It took a while for her eyes to adjust, but when they did she saw the face of a woman peering down at her. “Hello, there,” the woman said to her sweetly.
“Where am I?” Nicole asked, trying to remember the events.
ROMANCE: ALIEN ROMANCE: Captured by the Alien Dragon (Alpha Male Alien Abduction BBW Romance) (Bad Boy Shifter Fantasy Romance) Page 8