We are connected now, Theyn told her. We are one.
Great. She hastened to add, Not that I don’t like you guys. I do. I’m just used to my mind being my own private space.
Beno spoke aloud. “I will try not to listen, then, until you invite me, unless there’s an emergency. Theyn will, too.” The blond nodded his agreement.
“Thanks.” She braided her damp hair to keep it back and then sat to put on her boots. She would have to lose the army uniform at her first opportunity. It would attract the wrong kind of attention.
She went to the window and nudged the curtain out of the way, looking out at the parking lot just beyond the door. There was no sign of Joely or Asa, and she was beginning to worry. She glanced at the digital clock by the bedside.
Theyn sat on the bed and crossed his legs like a meditating yogi. His expression was calm and his blue eyes shone in the dimness of the room. He looked like some sort of angel, and she could well understand how the ancient Maya could have taken him for a god.
“You’re so calm,” she told him. “Like you don’t have a care in the world.”
“I have many cares, but being upset won’t help them.” He rested his wrists on his knees, letting his hands dangle. They were graceful and beautifully shaped, and she remembered the way they’d felt on her body. She blushed.
Beno put a hand between her shoulder blades, exactly on the spot where he had kissed her while they’d been making love. His touch sent an electric jolt through her, and he smiled at her reaction. Theyn smiled, too, and he and his partner exchanged knowing glances.
“I haven’t learned his serenity,” Beno told her. “I keep trying, but it’s just not my way.”
“That’s the way of pairings,” Theyn shrugged. “One is volatile, one is stable.”
She smirked. “I guess I know which one is which.”
“Well,” the brunet smiled, “that doesn’t really take a lot of guessing.”
She leaned into his touch, and he kissed the back of her head. He took a moment to breathe in her scent, and she shivered. He hummed and ran his hand down her spine to waistband of her pants, letting his fingers slide between the fabric and her skin.
Theyn chuckled. “They’ll be here soon.”
“Killjoy,” Beno chided gently. He stepped away from her.
Sera had to shake her head to clear it. Physical contact with these men made her dizzy in all the very best ways.
A car pulled into the parking space outside their door, and another beside it. A horn beeped twice in quick succession.
“They’re here,” she said. “I’ll go talk to them first. You guys… cover up those scales.”
“Osteoderms,” Beno corrected.
“What?”
“They’re not scales. They’re osteoderms.”
She didn’t know why he was taking this moment to school her on xenobiology, so she just let it go. “Okay. Whatever. They make you sparkle like you’re covered in glitter.”
“Do you find it unappealing?” Theyn asked.
“This is a screwy time to ask something like that,” she complained. “No, it’s not unappealing. It’s actually beautiful to me. But people out there will ask questions.”
Beno smiled. “We know. We’re just playing.”
“Well, stop. Time and place, guys.”
The men chuckled in unison, and she went outside to greet the newcomers. Joely ran to her and embraced her, squeezing her so hard that Sera almost couldn’t breathe. Asa stood beside one of the cars, his cowboy hat in his hand, looking relieved. He had a darkening bruise on the left side of his chin and the scabbed reminder of a split lip.
“Ribs,” Sera gasped, and Joely released her.
“Sorry. I was so worried! What happened?”
“You’re not going to believe it,” she said. More quietly, she whispered, “And have I got something to tell you the next time we have a chance for some girl talk.” She looked at Asa. “What happened to you?”
He shrugged. “Apparently, Mexican authorities don’t like it when you ask too many questions.”
Joely cast a fond glance at him. “He got into a brawl with some soldiers when we were trying to figure out what happened to you.”
She offered Asa a quick hug. “Thanks, buddy.” She stepped back and took a deep breath. “Okay… I have someone for you to meet.”
She led the two of them back into the hotel room. Beno stood in the middle of the room, his body tense, ready for a fight. Theyn stood behind him, that implacable mask of cool still on his face. Sera closed the door behind Joely and Asa when they got inside, and she slid the deadbolt into place.
“I...you… what are…” Joely turned to Sera, confounded. “What the hell?”
Her companion, bless his uncomplicated Texan heart, walked up to the dark haired Ylian and offered his hand. “I’m Asa Brunner. I work with Dr. Cooper.”
Beno looked at the proffered hand for a moment, then accepted the handshake. Asa’s jaw twitched; apparently, he wasn’t expecting the alien’s grip to be quite so firm. “Beno. This is Theyn.”
“Theyn was in the sarcophagus,” Sera said quietly.
The two new arrivals stared, and then Joely blurted, “No fucking way.”
“Yes,” Theyn said. “I was. You brought the supplies?”
She shook her head in utter amazement. “Yeah. Clothes, food, water, maps, sleeping bags, a tent, some camping equipment, and a shotgun with ammo.” She looked at Sera. “I didn’t know what you needed, so I went full hunting trip.”
“It’s perfect. Thank you.” She drifted closer to Beno and Theyn and told her human friends, “I need to get these two out of Mexico City. I don’t know what the Mexican government has planned, but they were keeping Theyn like a lab rat, and we have to get them free.”
“And go where?” Asa asked. “Back to the States?”
“If we can manage it.”
He scratched his head. “My family’s got a ranch in south Texas, not far from Laredo. If we could get through the checkpoints, we could take ‘em there.”
Theyn nodded. “We won’t be seen.”
“Trust me on that one,” Sera nodded. “You wouldn’t believe what these guys can do.”
She saw a distrustful look in Asa’s eyes, and he asked the two Ylians, “And you two… what do you intend to do if we get you out of here and back to our own country?”
The blond answered first, his voice sad. “Stay alive.”
“They’re the last of their people,” Sera told her friends. “Their world was destroyed and they came here in a re-engineered probe that wasn’t even equipped with steering.”
Joely licked her lips nervously. “So, uh…” She looked at Beno with the sort of look she normally reserved for Calvin Klein underwear ads. “Do you come in peace?”
Beno frowned. “We came in desperation.”
His partner put his hand on the brunet’s burly shoulder. He spoke to Joely in a quiet, soothing tone, the way that someone would try to calm a feral dog. “We mean no harm. We aren’t violent people.”
Asa snorted quietly. “Your buddy there looks about ready to rip our heads off.”
“He’s tense,” Sera interjected.
Theyn smiled. “He’s defending me.”
“Are you his boss?”
The two Ylians looked at each other, then the blond answered, “No. Not exactly. I am the pair lead.”
Sera held up her hand to forestall any more questions. “It’s complicated. Asa, can you lead us to your ranch? I promise you, you won’t regret it.”
That seemed like a stretch of a promise when there were so many unknowns hanging over their heads, but she felt it was worth taking the chance. The cowboy considered her words for a long time, then finally nodded.
“Yeah, fine. You guys sit in my car while the ladies drive the other one.” He shook his head. “Here’s hoping the federales don’t know what y’all look like.”
Joely came closer, fascinated by Beno. She reache
d out a hand toward him, and he stepped back from her touch. Her eyebrows rose into her hairline, but she dropped her hand without a word. Sera rested her palm on Beno’s back, and he relaxed - marginally.
“Your eyes are just incredible,” Joely breathed, staring. “And are those scales? Cool…”
“Let’s get moving,” Theyn suggested. “They won’t take long to find us again.”
***
In the basement of an office block in downtown Mexico City, Domingo Rodriguez spat blood onto the cold concrete floor between his feet. He was seated in a wooden chair, his ankles bound to the legs and his arms tied to the upright back support. His wrists were connected with a zip tie behind the back of the chair, and his mouth was swollen and bleeding from one too many punches.
In front of him, Colonel Remigio Vasquez paced a tight circle. Brass knuckles adorned his fist, and he was sweating lightly from the exertion of beating Rodriguez to a pulp. Vasquez grabbed the other man’s hair and yanked his head back painfully.
“You know where they went. You helped them,” he accused.
Rodriguez looked up at him through a blackened eye and spat again. This time, the red-tinged spittle struck Vasquez in the face. “Fuck you.”
“You will regret doing that,” the colonel promised. “After you tell me what I want to know, I will make you wish you’d never been born.”
The prisoner laughed in the back of his throat, but it wasn’t a mirthful sound. If anything, it was the sound of resignation. “What are you going to do with them?” he asked. “Torture them? Vivisect them? Study them?”
“We will do whatever we want to do. They belong to Mexico, not to that blonde bitch, and most certainly not to you.” He released his hold on Rodriguez’ hair. “We have surveillance video showing you meeting with them in the hospital room. Then we have video showing them leaving the hospital with Cooper in a wheelchair. What did you say to them? Where were they going?”
Rodriguez shrugged. “Maybe they were headed to Cancun for spring break.”
Vasquez backhanded him again. Blood and sweat sprayed across the room. “Wrong answer.”
The prisoner licked his lips, pressing his tongue to the split in the skin. “Don’t take it out on me because your men are inept. They were all there at their posts and they still let two aliens with an American archaeologist in a wheelchair just slip away.”
This time, the punch went to his kneecap. The bone snapped, and Rodriguez howled in agony. Vasquez grabbed him by the collar. “If you want to keep the other one, you’ll tell me what you know. Now.”
He was panting from the pain, and it took some time for him to gain enough control to speak. “I drove them away from the hospital to a motel.”
“You helped them to escape, and to kidnap the American.” Vasquez stated it flatly.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I knew what you would do to them.” He struggled to relax and breathe normally, but the throbbing in his knee was persistent. “They can be our teachers. Our guests.”
“No.” Vasquez’s fist drove into Rodriguez’ stomach, and all of his air left him in a rush. Another punch hit him in the side of the chest, and he could feel two ribs cracking.
“Ah… God…”
The colonel forced him to meet his gaze. “They are not guests. They are tools. They belong to Mexico.” He pushed Rodriguez’ head back harshly, rocking the chair. The wooden legs clacked against the concrete floor. “They belong to me.”
Chapter Six
They got into the cars, the Ylians with Asa and Sera with Joely. As she put the car into gear, Joely said, “I brought your wallet with your ID, along with your passport. It’s in the glove box.”
“Thanks. You think of everything.”
“I try.”
Traffic in Mexico City was a madhouse, full of drivers who seemed to have lost bets with Death and wanted to cash out early. Sera braced herself against the dashboard as Joely and Asa careened around the moving obstacle course. She felt herself going pale at a particularly close near miss, and she wondered how Beno and Theyn were handling the ride.
“Nice Bluetooth.”
Sera touched her ear. “It’s like a universal translator. It lets me understand them when they speak their own language.
“Handy.”
They drove in silence for a long time while she concentrated on driving through the madhouse on the streets.
“Spill it,” Joely said.
She didn’t need to ask what she meant. “They’re amazing.”
“Girl! No way! You nailed both of them?”
“At the same time.”
She whistled in admiration. “I’d never get out of bed if I had that option.”
“Believe me, I kind of wish I hadn’t had to.” She shook her head. “I just don’t know what’s come over me. This isn’t the sort of thing I do. I mean, they kidnapped me, for God’s sake, and within an hour of waking up I was banging them both like there was no tomorrow.”
“Waking up? What do you mean?”
She shrugged. “When I was in Theyn’s room in the hospital, Beno thought I was going to hurt him, so he shot me with some sort of stun gun thing. Knocked me out. Apparently, they carried me out and dragged me with them as a kind of insurance.” She snorted. “Then the army showed up at the hotel, and they figured that I probably wasn’t as useful in that respect as they thought.”
Joely swerved to miss a slow truck and almost hit a motorcyclist, but she yanked the wheel at the last moment. Sera’s stomach lurched up into her throat.
“What are they going to do?” her assistant asked, steadying the car and pointing it straight down the lane again. “I mean, are you going to live with them? Help them hide in society? That’s never going to happen, with that skin and those eyes. They’re never going to blend.”
“I know.” Sera chewed on her lip. “They haven’t got a home to go back to, and there’s no way we can send them out there into space even if we wanted to. We have to find a way for them to survive here, because here is all they have.”
“What about the dig?”
She closed her eyes. “I’ll have to turn it over to Dr. Green,” she said. She hated the thought of letting her professional rival get his hands on her find, but she couldn’t just go back. “I’m pretty sure that the pyramid has been claimed by the Mexican government anyway.”
“It’s surrounded by armed guards and they confiscated all of our artifacts,” Joely confirmed. “It sucks.”
“Big time.” She hesitated. “Have you heard from Domingo Rodriguez?”
“The suit that started this mess? No. He went missing at the same time you did.”
This could have been good news, or it could have been very bad. For Rodriguez’ sake, she hoped it was good.
Traffic ground to a halt, and Joely pulled up right behind Asa’s car. Sera could only see her Texan friend through the window. Theyn and Beno must have camouflaged themselves. “What’s going on?”
“I don’t know.” She craned her neck. “Looks like a checkpoint.”
Sera groaned. “Aw, shit. What are we going to do?”
“You’d better hide. I’ll bet they’re looking for you. I hope your boys stay down and out of sight.”
Sera, Beno’s voice said. Asa says the army is checking vehicles. Will you accept our touch?
Obscene images flooded her mind immediately and she flushed in embarrassment. Tell me you didn’t see that.
I did, and I take it as a compliment. She could feel him smiling. There will be time for that later, I hope. I desire you, as well.
She smiled, too. I’ll accept your touch… whatever that means.
Suddenly, her mind and body tingled with an awareness of Theyn and Beno. She could feel them near her, surrounding her as they had when they made love. She could smell their scents, musky and faintly spicy and enough to make her mouth water. Heat flushed through her from her head to her feet, and her vision began to shimmer. She l
ooked down at her hands and they began to fade from view.
Joely exclaimed, “What the hell?”
“Relax,” she whispered. “This is Beno and Theyn camouflaging me.” To her lovers, she thought, You are amazing.
We want to keep you safe, Theyn answered. Even his mental voice was warm and soothing. Just remember not to move or speak when they check your vehicle.
“How can they do that long distance?” Joely asked, amazed.
“We’re...sort of… connected.” Her camouflage flickered.
Shh, Beno whispered. Don’t speak.
The car inched along the roadway until it reached the roadblock. Joely wiped her sweating palms on her shorts and tugged down her tank top, revealing as much cleavage as she could. She slid her sunglasses up onto the top of her head as a Mexican soldier approached her rolled-down window.
“Hi,” she greeted brightly, sounding like a brainless coed. “What’s going on?”
He scowled and bent down, peering into the interior of the car. His shrewd dark eyes flipped over the seat where Sera was sitting beneath her lovers’ camouflage, trying not to breathe. He looked past her, or maybe even through her, before he allowed himself to be distracted by the skin that Joely was showing.
The soldier gave her a smile that was brief but friendly. Then his companion, a female soldier, barked, “Open your trunk.”
Joely sighed and popped the trunk using the button on her key fob. The trunk lid sprang open, and the soldiers sifted through the camping equipment and non-perishable foods. Finally, they closed the trunk and waved them through.
“That went better than I expected,” Joely said softly.
Sera hoped that Asa and his passengers had an equally easy passage.
***
They drove for hours, stopping once to refuel at a dirty little gas station that seemed to be rotting from the inside out. There was one pump and one attendant, who seemed to resent being awoken from his nap to take their pesos. The five travelers took their time stretching their legs and trying to relax.
Night had fallen during the long drive, and the clear sky sparkled with a thousand stars. Sera crossed her arms and looked up at the heavens, seeing the constellations differently now that she knew alien life truly existed. She shook her head in wonder.
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