The Million Miles High Club (Scifi Alien Romance) (Celestial Mates)

by Suki Selborne

  As I consider all of this, I notice one of Captain Plinaro’s henchmen has reappeared. He looks smug and haughty. They all do.

  I draw myself up to my full height, which is several zooms taller than the snooty official. I make a point of looking down at him, like the worm he is.

  He puffs out his chest, enjoying his moment of responsibility. “Scorvan Zi’Draalcay is to be confined to his rest-pod for the remainder of the sun-turn.”

  He speaks about me as though I am not here. As though I am not worthy of being spoken to directly.

  With difficulty, I do not react.

  Breelfan pats my back. “It is for the best. You need time to calm down. Only then will you see things more clearly, Scorvan.”

  The henchman continues, as though Breelfan has not spoken. “Captain Plinaro will summon Scorvan Zi’Draalcay to the command chamber after moons-rise. He strongly recommends Scorvan learns to control his emotions in the meantime.”

  My soldier colleagues make horrified faces. Losing control of emotions is a hugely taboo mistake for Yolcadians. To be accused of this is a huge disgrace. Of course, this is why Captain Plinaro ordered his lackey to make the accusation.

  I work very hard to stay calm.

  “Gods above. He’ll rip Scorvan a new oxygen inlet,” chuckles a young soldier I barely know.

  “Quiet, or I shall perform the same maneuver on you,” I snarl back at him. The young soldier slinks back into the group, his eyes terrified.

  Breelfan ushers the remaining soldiers to leave the chill-space where I am held. He leans into my ear on his own way out. “Take care of your temper, young fellow. The favorable opinion of a human is not worth the loss of your good standing as a soldier. Even the favorable opinion of a particularly beautiful female. Remember, Yolcadians stand together no matter what. No other peoples can divide us.”

  I turn away. I do not want Breelfan to see I already feel a connection to the human. It is better for him that he does not guess what I am about to do.

  If I rebel openly, I will be beaten and locked up. I care nothing for my own hardship, but it would leave the human at Captain Plinaro’s mercy, without my protection.

  I can handle any beating, but I will not be restrained when my mate is on board this ship. I need to find her and save her from my own kind. I need to protect her, now and for the rest of our lives.

  If I pretend to agree to a time-out in my rest-pod? It would be a lie, strictly speaking. But I would be left alone.

  I do have a reputation as a hothead, but not one as a dishonest soldier. There will probably be a guard on the door, but no force field. I should be able to escape, if I time it correctly.

  We Yolcadians tend to trust one another fully. There’s a good reason for that. Anyone who proves themselves untrustworthy is immediately executed.

  But I’m willing to break that trust. For her, I am prepared to break the biggest rule of all. I will betray my military vows in order to find and protect her.

  Can I really betray my entire planet, for one human?

  In a heartbeat.

  If I get caught, we’ll both be eliminated.

  So I will just have to make sure I do not get caught.

  I wait just until I hear footsteps and chatter fading away to nothing. Captain Plinaro intends to let me sit and brood for a long while before summoning me. None of the other soldiers will want to associate with me, now I have been accused of emotional actions. That gives me perhaps a fifth of a sun-turn before my rebellion will be discovered. It will have to be enough.

  Mate. I whisper it to myself, over and over.

  The memory of her curves in that tight silver spacesuit stirs my blood again. By the time I prepare to leave my rest-pod, I am rock-hard and throbbing with unfulfilled need.

  Slowly and stealthily, I open the door. The corridor is empty, as I predicted. I am being shunned by the rest of the ship’s crew, and I am grateful for that.

  It is time, I nod to myself. Time to claim what is mine.

  6 Kalia

  After an hour or so, footsteps click louder and louder outside the force field.

  I jump up. I forget about the low ceiling and almost knock myself out.

  “Human?” The voice is deep and gruff.

  “Yes?” I strain to see who it is, but I can’t. The person is way off to the side and I can’t lean over the force field.

  If only it was the handsome, rock-solid Scorvan.

  Yeah, right. Dream on.

  Why is he still in my head anyway? It’s idiotic. He was captured and removed to who-knows-where, for a start. There’s no chance of seeing him here. He couldn’t possibly be on guard duty.

  “I bring you food and liquid water,” says the disembodied voice.

  A flat rectangular box slides through the force field, undamaged. I assume it must be made of some kind of force field-proof material, whatever the hell that is. Yolcadian technology is an unknown thing to me.

  “Uh, thanks, I guess.” I stare at the box. “Any chance of letting me out of here?”

  The footsteps retreat.

  “Great, thanks for your extensive and detailed reply,” I call out, sarcastically.

  I never did get a glimpse of the person who had brought me the food. Not even the back of the guy’s head.

  With a sigh, I sit back on the floor. The box is cool to the touch, with no visible way of opening it.

  I pat around it on all sides. No fastening, or hinges. No cracks, or buttons to push. No openings anywhere on it.

  I drop it to the floor with a yelp of annoyance.

  “Oh, for crying out loud. I’m hungry.”

  As soon as I say it, the box opens itself.

  Inside is a bowl of crimped noodles, steaming hot, and coated in some kind of fluorescent yellow liquid. The liquid looks like ink from a highlighter pen.

  I sniff it doubtfully. To my amazement, it smells incredible.

  There’s no fork, or chopsticks, included for me to use. But there is a semi-circular glass object tucked into the side of the box. I take a wild guess that it must be some kind of eating tool.

  I pick it up and dip it into the bowl. Sure enough, it scoops up just enough for one mouthful.

  “Here goes nothing,” I say, as I shovel the luminous food into my mouth.

  Once again, I am astounded to realize it is delicious. It tastes like nothing I’ve ever eaten before. At the same time, it’s the most fabulous meal I’ve had in a long time. Boy, am I ready for it.

  It takes me just minutes to clear the bowl. I dab at my mouth with the silky napkin I found at the bottom of the box, and pat my full belly.

  At the bottom of the box, I find a glass cylinder of clear liquid. That’s weird. I didn’t see that when I first opened the box. Lifting the cap, I inhale deeply. It’s odorless. Hopefully it’s water. There are a lot of dangerous fluids it could be, but I’m thirsty enough that I’m prepared to try it.

  One quick taste confirms that yes, it is water. Thank heavens for that. I down the whole cylinder in seconds.

  As I shake out the cylinder so I can swallow the very last drop, a sound makes me jump. It sounds like… deep breathing?

  Is somebody watching me eat and drink? Why don’t they show themselves?

  “Is—is somebody there?”

  I stand up and flattened myself against the back of the cell wall. Fear prickles across my skin and my palms tingle.

  There’s that breathing sound again. Whoever it is must have pressed themselves up against the side of the cell. I can hear the person through it, as though the wall is made of something wafer-thin. Maybe it is. I’m clueless about the architecture of alien spaceship prison cells.

  “Show yourself, you crazy alien,” I call out.

  I gasp when a huge Yolcadian smashes the force field button off and walks through it. Then he clicks it back on.

  He’s in my tiny cell with me. He practically fills the entire space.

  Then he waves his hand around, and the ceiling lifts
to exactly his height.

  It’s him.

  Him.

  “Scorvan,” I squeak, just before he slams me up against the silver wall and kisses me.

  7 Scorvan

  Her.

  Mine.

  Seeing Kalia again fills me with a desire so primal, I barely know how to contain it.

  Her eyes meet mine with a flicker of shock. My arrival is unexpected.

  But definitely not unwelcome.

  Tapping the force field back on behind me, I reach for her with the other hand. As I drum my fingertips on the wall, the ceiling raises to accommodate my height. She gasps, and the sound makes me smile.

  I kiss her immediately, feeling her feeble human body yield beneath me.

  Mine. The universe has never felt more right.

  I pull away, to see her look of surprise make way for one of warm desire. In that second, I know she feels this connection too.

  I lift her right off the floor, so we are eye-to-eye.

  She is light, so light. Light as a fistful of petals, plucked at moons-rise. It is so easy to lift her, it is almost as though she is made of pure helium.

  “I’m Kalia, by the way,” she says.

  “Kalia. I’m Scorvan.”

  “I know.” She smiles shyly.

  Kalia. Ka-li-a. I replay the sound of her funny human name in my head. It is beautiful, as is she.

  I raise her to a kissable height with one hand and push her back against the wall. Her face remains level with mine, though her feet are a good distance above my own. I spread her legs, pressing myself firmly between them. Our noses touch.

  I encourage her to grip onto my waist with her soft thighs as I lean in to taste those soft pink lips again.

  Heat surges between us. Her softness drives me wild. It is all I can do not to enter her here and now.

  My military contract required me to give up all chance of love or physical intimacy. I grew accustomed to the idea of a life without a mate. Something drastic must have changed in my soul since last sun-turn.

  If this human asked me to join with her, right here and now? It would be impossible for me to refuse.

  I pull away from the kiss for a moment, to make sure all is well. Yes. She is happy. Her petal-shaped eyes are half-lidded with longing. She wants this as much as I do.

  “More,” she murmurs, cupping my face with her absurdly small hand. She pulls my face back toward hers, her fingers clutching tightly to the back of my head. Our foreheads connect, then our lips.

  I cannot refuse her request.

  My tongue explores her mouth, as my hands squeeze and caress her curves. Everything about her is warm and welcoming. She is sweet and soft, like a ripe sun-fruit.

  Without warning, she gulps and gasps.

  I stop again. “Is everything okay, Kalia?”

  She nods, looking startled. “Your tongue. It’s… wow, show me your tongue?”

  I frown, confused. Nevertheless, I put out my tongue. Just the first quarter or so.

  Kalia yelps. “My God, Scorvan! Your tongue is so…” Her jaw falls open. She looks genuinely stunned. “It’s so long.”

  I am confused. My tongue is quite ordinary. “Show me yours,” I say.

  She extends a hilariously short pink tongue, no bigger than the tongue of a Yolcadian smudge-kitten.

  I laugh. “You are a funny, tiny thing. So small, like a wisp of cloud.”

  She does not answer. She just kisses me again, with renewed vigor. I feel the gentle vibration of her sigh against my tongue as my hands caress each feather-soft inch of her.

  I press against her, my hardness throbbing between her legs. She rocks slightly against me, and I groan. The pressure she exerts on me in my engorged state could tip me over the edge. It is almost too much. The gyrations of her body only makes my yearning more powerful.

  I drop a line of kisses down her neck, and she tips her head back, her eyes closed. Her neck is so narrow and soft. My hands search over her spacesuit, and I consider tearing it off her so that I may have her fully. My need for her has become raw and urgent.

  But I manage to stop myself. Ripping her spacesuit would leave her without clothing. The thought makes my lust even wilder, but I cannot leave her without coverings. It would leave her vulnerable to the eyes of others. And I do not trust my shipmates with this exquisite beauty.

  I run my hands over her waist and hips, which are rounded like those of an angel. She is like nothing I have ever seen or touched before. She is like a mythical goddess from story books.

  “Scorvan,” she says into my hair, as I kiss a trail along the fine bones of her neck. “Scorvan—“

  “Yes?” I lift my head and wait for her to finish. Still transfixed by her pink flower-bud lips, I stroke her face with the back of my fingers. I am very close to simply kissing them again, and to hell with whatever it is she wants to say.

  But I do not. I let her speak.

  “Why are we doing this? We only met today. Why can’t we keep our hands off each other?”

  Not kissing her is starting to feel all wrong. “Because we belong to one another, of course.”

  I lean back in to kiss her again, but she stops my mouth with one narrow finger. “But how? Why? We’re not even from the same galaxy. How can we belong to each other?”

  It becomes clear that I am not going to be able to ravish her here in this cell, as I wish to. Humans are evidently thoughtful creatures.

  “I don’t know,” I say, trying to reduce my pulsating hardness by sheer force of willpower. It is getting pretty uncomfortable and I can tell that satisfaction is not going to happen just yet. “You are obviously mine. I need no further information.”

  “You don’t?” She looks at me as though I am crazy.

  She’s right, in a way. I have been driven crazy by her presence, and her intoxicating female scent.

  “Are you trying to tell me that you disagree?” I look her deep in the eyes. She looks at me with the same heat as before.

  No. She clearly does not disagree.

  “I’m not saying that. It’s just that—” She looks around the small cell, with a desperate expression. “All of this. How did it happen? I mean, could we really be—” She looks at her feet. They are tiny and perfect too, just like the rest of her. “Could we really be fated mates?”

  “Naturally.” I have no idea why she’s so baffled by all of this. “This is how love happens, surely? It is immediate and all-consuming, like a fiery supernova in full force. Did you not hear tales of perfect love-matches when you were a child?”

  Perhaps they do not usually experience love on Earth. I know nothing of the place, so anything is possible.

  “But those are just stories.” She looks a lot less excited about it than I would have hoped. “This is ridiculous. That stupid cherub was telling the truth? Did he send me here for this to happen? Because it’s great and all, but it’s put me in a hot mess of danger. And I don’t even think humans can mate for life with aliens. So I’ll lose you, and I’ll just have to live with the loss. So thanks for that, babyface.”

  She’s not making a lot of sense now. I decide to ignore her and just grab her again.

  We kiss passionately for a few more moments, but then she pulls away once more. “Did the cherub come to you too?”

  “What cherub?” I am finding it challenging to think clearly about her question. All the blood has left my brain and is surging elsewhere.

  “The Celestial Mates dude. You know. Little guy. Long name. A cherub.” Her eyes search my face, but I don’t know what she’s talking about. “You didn’t meet him?”

  “I know nothing of cherubs. You spoke of a cherub earlier. As I said then, I know no cherubs.”

  “Holy shit. Why didn’t he come to you too?”

  I shrug and try to kiss her once more, but she says “Wait”.

  Frustrated, I stop. “This is torture. I cannot resist you, Kalia. You are mine. You want me just as much. Admit it.”

  She traces
her hand over my stomach muscles and they tense beneath her touch. She bites her lip. “I’m not saying I don’t want you,” she murmurs. “God knows I’ve never wanted a man more.”

  “Then what are we waiting for?”

  She shakes her head, running her hands over my upper arms and squeezing the hard muscle she finds there. “Look at it from my point of view. A cherub appears on my ship, out of nowhere. Almost immediately, I find myself crash-landing on an alien spacecraft. Then I’m abducted by a bunch of military dudes who point guns in my face and tell me I’m a lowlife. Then I’m imprisoned. Now I’m getting it on with the sexiest alien on the ship. Probably in the whole damn universe. Doesn’t all that seem a little… well, a little off to you?”

  I smile at her. “The sexiest alien in the universe? Wait, it sounds like you’re having a great day.”

  “Don’t joke about this. I’m serious, Scorvan. I literally have no idea what the hell is happening to me today.”

  I take both her hands in mine. “Look, I’m not sure I even understand half of the things you speak of. But you can be sure of one thing. We are together now. I will protect you. And together, we will figure everything out. Okay?”

  Kalia looks deep into my eyes. Instead of the usual purple, her eyes are a burnished dark brown, flecked with gold and amber. They are dazzling. I can hardly believe how much they look like priceless tiger-stone.

  “Okay,” she whispers.

  I lean down to kiss her, one hand on the curve of her back and the other threaded through her long black hair.

  The tender moment is ruined by the thunderous entrance of Captain Plinaro’s henchmen.

  “Oh, shit,” Kalia says. “Not again.”

  Kalia makes a clicking sound at the unwanted arrivals with her tongue. “You’re getting to be a real buzz-kill, guys, you know that?”

  I smile at my fiery mate. She is nobody’s meek prisoner.

  Captain Plinaro’s flabby-faced deputy glares at her, then smiles snidely at me. “Scorvan Zi’Draalcay, you are to be disciplined before the Gromalf Alliance Court next sun-turn. You should not have come here to the trespasser’s cell. But then, you know that already.”