Soul-Bonded to the Alien

by Serena Simpson

  “I can’t. My talents are bound up tight. Nothing I do will work while we are here.”

  “That’s convenient.” She realized this trial was more about her than Cal. His talents had been refined over many years, it was her talents she needed to develop and learn to use successfully. She was the one who needed to prove herself. She was the unknown entity. The fact that his life, their lives, were in jeopardy and depended solely on her would have been enough to send her off to a dark room.

  “What’s not convenient is how aggressive these birds are becoming, soon one or several of them will take a bite out of us and we’ll be done.”

  “I’m trying Cal, I think I almost got it.” Sweat dripped from her brow, the jumping around combined with the added weight of needing to save him was tiring her out. Stopping to close her eyes, she bellowed in pain as a beak closed over her leg.

  She fell even as Cal caught her. Pain shot through her leg encouraging her to retreat from reality.

  “Paige.”

  “It bit me Cal, I’m sorry I tried to save us.”

  “You saved us, Paige. We’re out of the nest. Not sure where we are but there are no mountain peaks or birds in sight.”

  “I’m glad now you can go back and find another mate, somebody who loves you.” Her voice faded away as the poison began to enter her system causing her leg to go numb.

  “Hush, Paige. I’m going to enter your body.”

  “You can’t do that.”

  “Watch me, Sunshine.”

  *~*~*~*

  Cal laid down next to her knowing that to leave his body unprotected even here was against the rules. He didn’t care and would break as many rules as necessary to save Paige’s life. Slipping out of himself, he entered into her body.

  A smaller part of his essence moved inside of her. He set off for her leg bypassing the heart and the venom snake that would gladly love for him to get to close to it. Her body was a mass of reds and blacks showing her response to the bite she suffered. He traveled through her blood stream until he finally reached her injured leg. The poison from the bird was dark and oily as it began to spread.

  ;“Paige, can you hear me?”

  “I hear you. Where are you?” Her voice sounded drowsy to his ears.

  “Stay with me, Paige. Talk to me about anything.” He frowned feeling concern pulse through his veins, Paige’s body in here was pure essence, if she died there was no coming back. The weakness of her reply had him on edge.

  Turning his attention back to the poison, he generated a fine silk that flowed from his body fighting to get ahead of the poison that was trying to flow down her leg. Carefully he maneuvered the web through the affected areas taking care not to come into contact with any contaminated tissue. He didn’t want to chance spreading the contamination in her body by coming into contact with it.

  Getting the web in front of the spreading poison, he built a barrier to keep it from going any further. The silk web acted like a sieve allowing the blood to easily pass through but keeping the poison at bay.

  Looking at the wound, he shook his head. Poison was still seeping inside. If it wasn’t stopped she wouldn’t make it. It must be replicating, he needed to cauterize the edges of the wound and destroy the poison around it before he could get rid of what was collecting. He was going to have to hurt her. A deep mournful howl came from his Matra at what he would need to do.

  Taking a deep breath, he generated a heat that would take care of the jagged flesh around the bite and hopefully stop the poison from replicating. A beam came from his hand going to the edge of the wound. It hovered not moving.

  “Sunshine, this is going to hurt. I need to cauterize the wound, sealing it off from any other attack.”

  “Paige, are you listening to me?” Desperation clawed at his chest as he waited for her answer.

  “I’m tired, Cal, I just want to sleep.”

  “You can’t sleep. Paige, I need you to fight and you can’t do if you’re asleep. I promise when I get you back home, you can sleep as long as you like. Are you listening to me, beautiful?”

  “You called me Beautiful.” There was a slight feeling of awe in her voice.

  “Because you are, Paige. The minute I saw you I was overwhelmed by your beauty, then I met you. Now I know you’re not just beautiful on the outside, but you’re also beautiful on the inside. Get ready this will hurt.”

  He aimed a bright light at her wound watching as the ends sealed and the poison dissipated into noxious fumes. He felt her pain; even though they weren’t yet soul bonded it reverberated through him. He took a deep breath and continued. He had to stop the poison or he would lose her.

  Cal listened as Paige’s breath came out in shallow pants with cries of pain accompanying it.

  “Did you close the wound?” her voice was low and shaky.

  “No, not yet. I need to push the poison out of your system, it would be too deadly to try to diffuse it enough so it could travel through and pass naturally.”

  “You make it sound so easy.”

  “Hmm, maybe my bedside manner is improving.”

  She gave a small chuckle.

  “Tell me something I don’t know, Paige.”

  He turned his attention back to the poison that was collecting against the web he spun. There was a dark coat of it everywhere it touched. It not only planned to replicate but to leave traces of itself every place it went.

  His body began to glow until he was pure light causing the poison to shy away from him. It was a form of darkness that wasn’t able to take the light. Burrowing through it until he came to his web, he turned to find that where he traveled there was not a trace of it. He began to stretch until he covered the web. His essence was thinned putting a strain on his body. If he spread himself too thin, he would find himself evaporating much like steam. He thinned a little more, Paige’s life depended on it.

  The poison retreated from him backing up just enough to keep from coming in contact with the light he projected. Slowly he began to advance as the poison retreated. It would take a while, but he would be able to push it out of her body.

  “I don’t hear you, Paige.”

  “It burns.”

  “I’m sorry, Paige, but this is the only way I can do it here.” Paige’s voice sounded weak to his ears making him want to work faster. He couldn’t go any faster, if he missed one small particle it would replicate and kill her.

  “I hear voices.”

  “Victor and Selma are talking to you. We have songs and words of healing, I’m sure they are covering you with them.”

  “Am I going to live?”

  Her voice sounded defeated to him. This was the first time he heard her sound this way; she was always so strong even as she talked about her struggles.

  “Definitely. You don’t think I just found you to lose you?”

  He pushed the poison closer to the opening, he began to tire; his destination began to seem like it was moving away from him.

  “When I was younger I always wanted to be beautiful, not pretty, but beautiful like a Princess. I even wanted a princess dress, but I never got one. When I grew up and moved out I had a few boyfriends who said I was pretty, but they never said I was a beautiful.”

  “Be happy they never said that, Paige. I might have felt the need to track them down and relieve them of their heads.” Jealousy he never expected to feel reared its ugly head. He wanted to be the one who called her Beautiful. Already he didn’t want to share.

  “Cal!”

  “Yes, Beautiful?”

  “Say it again.”

  “Paige, you’re absolutely beautiful.” It was a wonder to him that she couldn’t see herself. She was the sunlight glinting off the snow in the morning. Her eyes were the refreshing grey of a cloudy sky, a sky that promised surprises. Her sweet face with her never ending smile. Along with that a body that would make any man drop to his knees. He would have followed her anywhere. She was beautiful.

  “Cal, I think I like you!”
/>
  He gave a weak chuckle, “It’s a start, but I think there’s more to it than that.

  “Are you alright?”

  “Just fine, tell me something else.” Tiredness beat at him like a drum. Halving his essence, then thinning it, was taking a toll on him.

  “I love your arms.”

  “Oh?”

  “They’re strong and thick. I love when you flex them.”

  “Just my arms, Paige?”

  “Look who’s fishing for complements. You know you’re hot.”

  “The only compliments I want are from you, Sunshine.” His voice became weaker until it trailed off.

  “Cal?”

  “Almost there, Paige. I just need to hold on a little longer.”

  “I’m coming to help you.”

  “You can’t, besides you’d have to become pure light.” She would have to separate her essence and make one part pure light to travel within her temporary body.

  She appeared at his side. “Too late, here I am. What do we do? Cal, your light is dimming.”

  Her shock at his weakened conditioned rippled over him. She cared, he could feel it in the concern she felt for him.

  “I’m becoming weak, but I’m strong enough to finish.”

  “I’m not even going to ask what happens if you’re light goes out.”

  “Paige.”

  “No! When I was in school we had to pick topics one year to talk about something personal. There was one girl who stood up and talked about family. She said family was about being one, they would live for each other or die for each other. I never forgot those words. We’re family now. We live or we die together.”

  She joined her essence with him. There was an explosion in her body; it felt like mini fireworks going off as her essence combine with his. For one clear moment she saw her past and her future merge together. A link was created between them, who he was and possibly who he would become ran through her mind. She saw him and his Matra and the struggle they endured to live on an alien planet. The shield around her heart cracked just a little as he penetrated it creating the final link that would join them together. For better or worse they were one.

  Together the brightness they created drove the poison out of the wound. They sealed the wound creating a barrier that would keep any lingering poison on her skin from finding a way in.

  “We did it, Cal.”

  “I know, beautiful. We won. Let’s get some sleep, we deserve it.”

  *~*~*~*

  Voyager looked at the sleeping couple, before shifting his form, he grew taller, taking the form of a human male. With a thought he brought out a red hot fire that targeted the poison seeking a new entrance into their bodies. Destroying it gave him pleasure.

  The Sudir they were fighting was strong; he was able to turn what should have been a test into this struggle for life or death. One of them was important to him.

  With a wave of Voyager’s hand, the bleak landscape disappeared to be filled with rolling hills and a meandering lake. He commanded a meal to be set before them as he shifted forms again.

  “Wake up, Girly, this isn’t the time for sleeping. I said wake up.” He released a stream of energy at her making her jump.

  “What happened?”

  He shrugged his shoulders. “You passed the test set before you by managing to get out of that nest alive. The ingenuity of the male you refuse to claim, as well as your own, healed you” Voyager turned his head to look at the meal he prepared for them before turning back to look at Paige. “There’s a repast set off to the side for all you’ve accomplished. Don’t wait too long. Nothing stays the same here.”

  “Cal, wake up.”

  “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing, we made it. We even have some food to eat. Do you thinks it’s a trap? More poison?”

  He sat up looking over to where she was pointing. The spread was beautiful. The food was nothing either of them recognized but the look on Voyager’s face said it was all edible.

  “It looks like a picnic,” Paige said, eyeing the food while her stomach cramped in hunger.

  “Would you eat with me, Paige?”

  Nodding her head she got up walking over to the food.

  “You sure it’s ok?”

  “Yeah, I think its fine.”

  Paige made them both plates of the strange food. “This is good.”

  “I think it might be the best I’ve ever tasted.” Cal laughed, “if only I knew what to call it.”

  She agreed as she ate. “What do we do now?”

  “We look for the exit.”

  “What about the test and the becoming one?”

  “You did it, Paige. When you merged with me, we became one. Look at me closely.”

  She studied him until she finally saw a faint band that circled around him like a wedding band. When she looked down at herself she saw the same faint band, as if it was connected. It pulsed at the same time, sending out small sparks that jumped from him to her and then back again. She ran her hands over it only to see them pass through harmlessly. It wasn’t something she was seeing with her eyes, she was seeing it with the talents Cal told her about.

  “We did it.”

  “No, Paige you did it. You initiated it, there was no resistance on my part and we became one.”

  “How do we get out?” She turned to look at Voyager. “I did it.”

  “Your still here, so you’re not finished. You can still fail, Girly.”

  She frowned before brushing off his words. “Are you ready?”

  Cal nodded, they walked down the hill together looking for a way out. The lush green grass at their feet made Paige feel more confident. The soft breeze felt refreshing after all she’d been through. All they needed now was the door.

  “What do you think he meant?”

  “I don’t know, nothing was like I thought it would be in here.”

  The sound of a baby crying stopped her dead in her tracks, “Do you hear that?”

  “Sounds like an infant.”

  They turned towards the crying; it was coming from a section where the grass was taller obscuring any view they would have of an infant. They waded in looking for the baby. Cal stomped down the grass making a path for Paige. Finally after walking for some time they came upon a basket that was hidden in the tall grass. A blanket covered the basket and a crying sound emerged from it.

  “We can’t leave a baby here, Cal. Where are the parents?” Her voice was distressed as she looked at the basket. It took everything within her not to rush to pick it up and comfort the child inside.

  “I don’t know.”

  “I have to pick it up.”

  “Alright, but do you think that’s wise?”

  She took a step towards the basket and stopped.

  “Paige, what’s wrong?” Cal looked from her to the basket.

  “It doesn’t feel right. Who leaves a baby in the middle of nowhere? I still want to pick it up, comfort it, but every time I try to move towards it I get a warning to stop. How can I leave a child to suffer?” She walked closer to the basket, her hands itching to pick it up. Her heart cried out for a child left alone.

  “What if it’s a trap?” He reached out a hand to halt her progress.

  “How can I turn my back on it, Cal?”

  She took another step towards the basket. The need to protect overwhelmed her. No one protected her when she needed it, how could she turn her back on this little one?

  “I suffered because no one was there for me, Cal.” A tear slid down her face. “A poor helpless baby.”

  She took another step closer before she broke down and cried for all the times she wanted someone to hold her. Cal slipped his arms around her and pulled her close.

  “We’ll do whatever you think is right, Paige.”

  “I want to comfort the crying child but I know that to pick it up is to condemn you to death. I won’t, I can’t do that.”

  Voyager came forward clapping his hands. “Very good, Girly. If
you picked up this bundle certain death would have followed.”

  He waved his hand and the exit appeared.

  “Paige.” Voyager called her making her stop in her tracks with shock.

  She turned back to look at Voyager.

  “I knew you could do it.”

  Chapter Eleven

  Paige opened her eyes to find herself lying next to Cal.

  “Cal?”

  “We made it, Paige.”

  She looked around to find Victor and Selma smiling at them.

  “Congratulations, we were getting a little worried about you two. You’ve been out for a while.” Victor stretched his hand to his brother.

  “My leg.” Paige sat up and looked at her skin. It was smooth. “I thought…I got bit wherever we went and I thought I would see it on my leg when I woke up.”

  “It was a nasty bite,” Selma said.

  “Your smooth skin was a gift from Voyager. You must have impressed him.”

  “He grows on you after a while. I wonder who he is.”

  Victor and Selma laughed not responding to her.

  “He definitely grows on you,” Selma said. “We will leave you two, it’s about time for Vick to come home.”

  Paige turned to face Cal after Victor and Selma walked out closing the door behind them.

  “So that’s it, we’re married?”

  “In my world yes, married and more than married. Together forever.”

  “So what happens next? I move in with you, wash your clothes, and make you dinner?”

  “Back up, Sunshine. Clothes washing is a serious commitment. I know you’re anxious to see what’s under these pants, but you’re going to have to wait. I’m not that easy.”

  Her laugh flowed easily as her lips twitched and her eyes crinkled. Genuine mirth filled the room, she couldn’t remember the last time, if ever, and she felt so free.

  “There’s no need to rush, I’ve waited a long time, we have more time than you can imagine.”

  “That sounds wonderful.”

  “All that time I told you about depends on whether we are able to stop that venom snake.”