“That’s a nice name. Zarek, I like that,” she cut him off. She was alone in a giant room with Zarek, and yes, she was attracted to him. Who wouldn’t be?
“Yes, but you haven’t answered—” he started again, his bicep muscle clenching as he leaned forward. Aubrey stopped swabbing.
“Sit still,” she said as she placed her hand on his chest, pushing him back, feeling his warm, soft skin, his firm, hard muscles, under her palm. She quickly withdrew her hand and picked up another collection jar.
When she had taken all the samples except a blood sample, she reached for the rubber band. His jaw tightened.
“I’m sorry,” she said as she wrapped the band around his bicep.
“I know,” he answered, looking into her eyes.
Aubrey took the needle out and attached the collection tube. Zarek didn’t flinch, though Aubrey detected the change in his eyes.
“I’m sorry,” she repeated. Her own soul felt sick at having to perform this test. “Why does it hurt so much?”
“What do you mean?” he asked.
“Well, you’re big, and obviously strong, and it’s just a small needle prick, but each time I can see the pain in your eyes, in the way you clench your jaw—”
“It is very painful. It doesn’t hurt when your blood leaves your body?” he asked.
“Not really.” She held the needle up.
“My blood is part of me. It runs through all of me.”
“Mine too.”
“When you take my blood, you take a part of me.” Zarek held his hand up. “It’s like if you take my hand or my foot or my eye, but worse. My blood is a part of my whole body. My whole body hurts when you take any of my blood.”
Aubrey stared his hand, his foot, his eyes. Then, she stared at the needle. How could she do this to him? But what if she didn’t? She’d lose more than her career. She’d lose any access she had to this magnificent creature. She’d lose any chance at—at what? She looked into Zarek’s eyes again. Yes, she was attracted to him, incredibly attracted. Somehow the confession that she’d been causing him excruciating pain with every blood draw, as horrifying as it was, attracted her to him on a deeper level. She couldn’t do it to him anymore. She had to leave. No, she had to stay. She couldn’t get fired. She had to perform this test.
“I understand,” Zarek whispered.
“Understand what?” she asked.
“Take the blood,” he said as he raised his free hand and guided the needle to his vein.
She pushed the needle through his skin. She didn’t look up at his eyes this time, but somehow, she could feel the screams of his soul in her own body. They were a tingle at first then an electric current. She closed her eyes as the pain grew.
“It’s full,” he said hoarsely, pointing to the collection tube. She opened her eyes and extracted the needle, letting out her breath as she did so.
“How did you—Why could I feel that?” Aubrey asked, her breathing still quick and shallow.
“What is a career?” he asked.
“It’s like a job, but—”
“Who is your father?”
“Raymond Moss, the president of the company that runs this lab, but how did you—?”
“What is your name?”
“Dr. Moss,” she answered with a sigh.
“No, what is the rest of your name?”
“Aubrey,” she answered, giving up on her own question.
“Aubrey,” Zarek said, looking at her through eyes still heavy with pain. “Aubrey, everyone on this planet will be sorry when my people arrive.”
He reached up and brushed her jawline with his thumb. “It’s too bad, really. I’m growing fond of you. Still…”
“Still what, Zarek?” Aubrey stood, grabbing the handle of the now closed bag. She took a step back. “What are you talking about?”
“I’m sure your people told you my crew escaped?”
“Yes.” Aubrey took another step back.
“They will return soon. It’ll take them what you call two weeks at the most. If your people do not allow me to escape peacefully, your world will be destroyed along with everyone in it.”
Zarek stood. His amber eyes darkened. He walked to the far corner of the enclosure, a corner bathed in light-grey shadows. The shadows danced across his face, accentuated his sharp cheekbones and jawline. Aubrey swallowed.
“Come closer, Aubrey,” he said deeply.
Aubrey shook her head and took a few more backward steps toward the door.
“I won’t hurt you, Aubrey,” he said. “I just need to rest for a bit. You felt it. You know how that test hurts, how it weakens me. I just need to rest, but I want to tell you about everything. I want to tell you about my home, my people, my…please?”
Aubrey knew she shouldn’t do it. She knew she should run. She knew…but she felt drawn to the corner, to the shadows, to Zarek. Aubrey set the bag down and walked to the corner of the room where Zarek was now sitting cross-legged. His chest moved in and out. His eyes were closed.
“I find breathing to be quite useful when dealing with fear or pain,” he said. “You might try it sometime.”
Aubrey smiled at his jest despite herself. They both smiled, but only for a moment. Zarek’s face quickly sank. His eyes illustrated his immense burden once more.
“Sit,” he said, patting the ground in front of him.
She sat facing him.
“Five years ago,” he began, looking into her eyes, communicating the emotions of his words through the soul that rested behind them. She felt as if she, too were feeling his emotions, as if she had been there, as if she were a part of him then and now. “Five years ago, my planet was attacked by water-breathing dragons.”
As he spoke, she saw his people, the Plarizakians, as they rushed to their ships. She saw the Nefarianics as they spewed water on the deserts of his planets. She saw his father, mother, and brother die. She was snapped back to reality when Zarek brushed a finger under her eyes, wiping the tears from her burning cheeks.
“That is why we have come here,” he whispered. “The spot where we tried to land was just like our home planet. It was abandoned. There were no houses, no roads. We hoped we could live a quiet existence there. We meant to cause no harm to anyone. We just wanted a home. We just wanted peace, but now…”
“I’m so sorry,” she whispered before covering her face. Her shoulders rose and fell as she sobbed. She was sorry, but she didn’t know what she could do.
“I know,” he said, putting his fingers under her chin, pulling her face up so her eyes met his. “I know you are.”
“I don’t know what I can do,” she said.
“Nothing,” he answered. “There’s nothing you can do. I understand. There’s nothing either of us can do except what we’re already doing.”
“I have to get back to work,” she said, rising and brushing off the seat of her pants. She wiped the remaining moisture from her face.
“Don’t forget to breathe,” he said as she walked away.
Chapter Five
“You’ll do fine,” Robert patted Aubrey on the shoulder as they headed for the conference room.
“We still haven’t got the dragon specimens,” she reminded him. She stuck her trembling hands into her pockets. They were about to enter the weekly briefing conference. They would have to face their failure. They would have to face her father.
All the chairs around the table were full except Robert’s. This time Robert didn’t offer his seat to her. She sat in the chair by the wall.
“What about the new sample?” her father asked from the head of the table. Aubrey looked up.
“We, uh, still haven’t—” Robert started.
“You mean to tell me,” her father’s face reddened, “that I have the top two biologists in the country, in the whole damn country, and neither one of them can get a sample?!”
Her father rose, circled the table, towered over Robert.
“We—it—” Robert shrank into h
is chair. Raymond Moss leaned down toward him, placing one beefy hand on the table, the other on the back of Robert’s chair.
“Why don’t I have the damned samples?!” her father yelled, his face almost purple.
“It’s her. She’s—” Robert stuttered. Raymond turned on his daughter, eyes narrowing. She stared back, horrified, humiliated. She had though Robert was her friend. Now, he was turning his back on her.
“What about her?” he asked, glaring at Aubrey.
“The samples she’s giving me,” Robert said more confidently, shuffling through a file, “are completely inadequate. She’s wasted a week’s worth of testing. See, the blood sample here is too small. This one must have sat too long before she put it in the refrigerator. She been in there every day this week, and she hasn’t been able to get any dragon samples at all.”
“I knew you’d blow it,” Aubrey’s father spat, his face inches from hers. She tried to breath, tried to still her trembling hands, tried to hold back the tears that burned her eyes. “You have one more chance. If you can’t do this, I will fire you. I will make sure you never work as a biologist again. Now, go!”
Aubrey bolted out the door and ran to the locker room. Once inside, she leaned over the sink. She breathed in. She breathed out. She closed her eyes.
Don’t blow it, her father’s voice echoed in her mind. Then, another man’s words came to her mind. There’s nothing either of us can do except what we’re already doing.
With that thought, Aubrey splashed cold water on her face before drying it on a paper towel. Then, she stood straight and walked out the door, heading for the labs.
Aubrey was still working at ten o’clock that night. She had tested all the animals scheduled for testing on the day shift as well as the night shift. She had told Jeff, the guy who usually fed the animals on the night shift, to go home. She’d finish up for him. She had already fed most of them. Now, she stood beside a metal work table reading off the numbers for Bob’s food tray.
“Two, four, one,” she whispered to herself, squinting at the sheet. She rubbed her eyes. She was absolutely exhausted and her vision was beginning to blur. “Two, four, is that a one or seven? One. Definitely one. Yup.”
She nodded and walked to the cart lined with metal drawers. She pulled out drawer number 241. It was Bob’s food—a mixing bowl full of red Jello. Aubrey walked to Bob’s tank. She set the bowl down on the floor and used both hands to push the buttons on the tank’s handgrip. The glass slid down just far enough to allow her to insert the bowl and dump its contents into the tank’s water. Bob jiggled as the Jello floated down. When the food finally touched Bob, he absorbed it into his gelatinous body. Aubrey raised the glass again, listening for the click that meant the pane was closed. She returned the bowl back to its drawer and moved on to the next creature.
“Two, six, zero,” Aubrey said out loud to herself, tapping a pen on the clipboard. She walked to drawer number 260 and opened it. It was the electric blue gorilla’s meal. So far, the only meal they had found for him was electric-fried rabbits. Aubrey cringed as she lifted the tray of crispy bunny flesh and fur.
She set the tray down on the floor before reaching to open the creature’s aquarium. This one opened from the bottom, its buttons an arm span apart. She pushed and lifted, hurrying before the creature could charge itself. She grabbed the tray, slid it under the glass, and slammed the pane shut. She didn’t hear the click, though. The animal inside was charging, pulses of current running through its hair. The air in the enclosure brightened. Aubrey reached to check the latch. She pulled up on the pane. The glass slid up an inch. The air grew brighter and brighter. She kept her eyes lowered, tried to slam the handgrip down. There was something in the way, though. The creature had jammed the food tray toward her, blocking her from closing the door. Without the soundproof glass between her and the creature, Aubrey heard the thunderous explosion as the creature released its electric charge.
But, Aubrey also heard another explosion, this one from behind her, coming from the circular hole in the floor, from Zarek’s enclosure. She heard glass shatter. She felt claws dig into her back. She felt herself being lifted into the air. A bolt of electricity reached her, even up there, and as she drifted into unconsciousness, she felt the heat of fire on her face.
Chapter Six
“Aubrey,” she heard her name being called through the haze of fog that separated her from full consciousness. She groaned, trying to open her eyes. “Aubrey, wake up.”
She groaned again, her eyes fluttering open this time. The room was flooded in blue, strobing lights. Thinking the blue was electricity, she shot up into a sitting position, sharp pains shooting through the top of her back. She covered her ears against the sirens that filled the air. Zarek wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close. After a second, she pulled away, looking around the room. They were back in his enclosure, in the shadowy corner now lit by the strobing lights. She shifted around in his arms to survey the damage. Glass covered the center of the floor. There was a whole in the ceiling.
“It was you,” she whispered. “You saved me.”
He moved around her to look at her back. “I am sorry for the scratches. My talons aren’t exactly precision points, you know?”
She stood, walking toward the center of the room.
“Is it dead?” she asked, referring to the blue creature.
“Yes.”
She looked down, ashamed. She wished the beast didn’t have to die. It wasn’t his fault. He shouldn’t have been here. He shouldn’t have been caged. He shouldn’t have been captured at all. She thought of Zarek’s home planet. None of these creatures should have been there. They belong in their own homes, on their own planets, with their own families.
Zarek watched her as she thought. He approached her, putting his arm around her waist.
“It is not your fault,” he whispered into her ear. Several of her curls had fallen out of her ponytail. His words made the strands move, tickling her ear, sending chills down her neck, down her arms, down her back. She shivered. She had grown used to his nakedness, but suddenly it was different. She looked away from him, blushing.
“None of this is your fault,” he said. “I wish…”
He leaned closer, his warm breath tickling her ear again, her jaw, her neck. He drew back a little, his still smoldering eyes darkening.
“I wish…” he repeated, leaning in again, brushing his still hot lips over hers. She felt as if her lips would melt into his. She couldn’t help but kiss him back. She couldn’t help but push her lips farther into his. The tingling she had felt turned into a warm fire that spread downward, heating her core. He put the tips of his fingers on her neck, traced back to her ear, around her ear, down her cheek, then back to the side of her neck again. He started to pull away, but she wanted more. She pressed her lips against his again. He groaned, putting his arm around her waist, pulling her closer to him, against his firmly muscled abdomen. He swiped his tongue against her lips parting them, tracing the sides of her tongue with the tip of his, then pulling his tongue out to trace her lips. She sighed. He groaned again, pulling her even closer. Then, he pulled away.
“I wish…” he repeated hoarsely, turning away.
She watched him as he faced the door to the aquarium. Then, she saw movement in the control room. Robert was watching them. She wondered how long he had been there. He scanned his ID badge and door opened. Her father entered the anteroom behind Robert. They simply stood in the anteroom, though, even after the blue lights stopped flashing.
What were they waiting for?
She soon found out what they were waiting for when the armed men dropped from ropes out of a hole in the ceiling. Once on the ground, the men pointed their guns at Zarek. Zarek held his hands up. Robert and Raymond entered the room. The military men inched closer and closer to Zarek, circling around him.
“Stop!” Aubrey shouted. None of the men responded to her. They didn’t even look toward her. “Don’t hurt him!”
Aubrey’s father hurried toward her. He grabbed her by the arm, digging his fingers into her skin.
“Shut up!” he commanded.
“But he didn’t do anything but save me!” she cried. “He saved me!”
“I said, shut up, Aubrey! Shut up!”
By then, he had dragged his daughter to the door of the control room.
“Please, don’t let them hurt Zarek!” she cried as he shoved her into the anteroom after Robert. He followed her in. She beat on the glass door as it shut, her father holding her back.
The men began beating Zarek. She watched as he knelt in front of them. They hit his shoulders, kicked his stomach, slammed the barrels and stocks of their guns against his back. She watched as he slumped to the ground, bleeding and bruised.
She tried to breathe slowly, like he taught her. If she had any chance, if Zarek had any chance, she would have to calm down enough to tell her father what was going on.
She took a few more breaths before beginning to explain. “Zarek and his people are a peaceful race. Their world was destroyed. They found an area in New Mexico where they thought they could settle. It’s a desert, just like their home planet. It’s abandoned. No one lives there. His people just wanted a place to settle. They don’t want to hurt anyone. The only reason Zarek escaped this room, the only reason he turned into a dragon and caused so much damage, was to save me from that beast upstairs.”
“And?” her father glared down at her.
“And, he saved me, your only daughter, from death,” she repeated, trying to hold her temper in check. A cold, hard truth hit Aubrey in that moment. She finally saw her father for what he was—a repulsive tyrant. She wanted to spit at him.
“A death that would have been completely your fault,” he stared into her eyes as he said this.
She couldn’t hold her temper any longer. “He saved your only daughter and you don’t give a shit. I know I’m not perfect. I never have been. I never will be. But, I’m your damned daughter. This man saved my life! You are the president of this company and you have the chance to save his life. If you are any kind of father, any kind of man, you will return his favor and spare his life.”
Bears of Burden: WYATT Page 58