by Cara Wylde
“For me, the past week has been filled with revelations. Doubts concerning the mission of putting an end to Old Earth, endless arguments with the other Captains in our fleet, rescuing the human female from certain death, discovering she has abilities beyond what we thought was possible for her underdeveloped species… and finally, the real reason why I brought her on board of The Hesperia.”
“I thought you were clear on the reason when you made the decision,” Thivo pointed out. “I was there. I don’t understand.”
“Yes. The moment I saw her, I knew she was special. But her impressive telepathic abilities and manifesting power were only a small part. I didn’t see it then, but I can see it now. The human female is my twin flame.”
“What?!” Shirin jumped to her feet, then cleared her throat and composed herself. “Twin flame. Captain, it’s so rare for someone to find his or her twin flame. Are you absolutely certain?”
“Yes. Yes, I am. Alison Page is my twin flame. I believe, deep down, I might have known all along. Spending so much time with her has brought that belief to the surface and strengthened it. I have, indeed, found my twin flame.”
Thivo stood up as well. He smiled and patted Ark on the shoulder in a brotherly manner. It wasn’t something he got to do often, but this was a special occasion.
“I am happy for you, Captain.”
“Wait,” Shirin intervened. “Does she know? Does she feel the same?”
Ark’s intense blue eyes filled with worry. He shook his head.
“I haven’t talked to her about it. I’m not sure her species knows much about twin flames, and I don’t want to scare her away. I’ve thought long and hard about this, and I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s better to wait for the right moment to tell her. However, I would prefer for the right moment to happen before we reach our destination. This is why I brought you here. You have to help me speed things up.”
“How?” Thivo and Shirin asked at the same time.
“By studying the traditions of Old Earth regarding love, seduction, relationships, and so on, and help me create the perfect setting that would inspire her to like me.”
“You want to make her fall in love with you,” Shirin translated. It was obvious that Ark was avoiding the use of direct words. “You want to seduce her.”
“Y-yes. I guess that’s another way of putting it.”
“It’s the only way of putting it.”
“Why can’t you do it our way?” Thivo asked. “The language of love is the same regardless of species, right?”
“Hmm… Thivo has a point.”
Ark waived them off.
“No, it won’t work. I feel I must put some effort into it, be open to her culture, do it her way. Then she’ll know I’m truly invested.”
“But it would be so easy to gift her a yoniphant horn,” Thivo started brainstorming out loud. “I’m sure we have some lying around.”
“Yes,” Shirin agreed. “It’s the best way to show her you only live to bring her pleasure. You might have to teach her how to use it, though.”
“While visiting the city,” Thivo said, “I saw a couple of stores… sex shops, the humans called them. There were some weird clothes exposed in the store windows. I’ll never understand how they work or why anyone would want to wear something like that. They barely cover anything, and I know they’re not suitable for winter…”
“Get on with it.”
“Right. Well, there were also some devices that resembled our yoniphant horns. I doubt they were natural, though. My point is: she might figure out how to use a horn pretty fast, which means she will immediately understand Ark’s message.”
The Captain rolled his eyes in exasperation.
“And what if her species sees physical pleasure differently than us? What then? I don’t want to risk offending her.”
“You’re right,” Shirin changed her mind in an instant. “A yoniphant horn won’t do. But you can always build her a Chamber of Future. Focused on the two of you, of course. There’s enough space in the greenhouse, or bluehouse, as she calls it, and it’s even romantic.”
“That does the trick on Unxendio,” Thivo said.
Ark rubbed his temples.
“Yes, on Unxendio. She’s not from Unxendio, is she?”
The two Officers shrugged in defeat.
“If Allie were an Unxendi, this would be easy. In fact, she’d immediately recognize me as her twin flame, and this whole madness would become redundant. We have to think outside of the box here, and the problem is I don’t have the time.” He motioned toward the table, which was, in fact, a huge computer screen filled with scattered folders and documents.
“I know something that doesn’t fit in any box,” Thivo winked. “We can drop out of hyperspace, and you can take her for a romantic flight outside, show her The Hesperia from above.”
“Oh, yes!” Shirin clapped her hands in excitement. “I’d kill for such a romantic surprise. Okay, maybe not commit actual murder, but you get the point.”
“I can prepare the space bubbles.”
Ark was shaking his head again, but no one seemed to be paying attention to him.
“Oh, oh! And we can make the ship shake a bit, you know… laser her bubble.”
“Shirin is a good shot. She won’t miss.”
“And then you can save her and be her hero forever.”
Ark threw his hands in the air.
“Are you two insane? Do you want her to die of a heart attack?! No, no, and no. Bad ideas. All of them. We’re not lasering anyone’s space bubble.”
“Okay, Sir,” mumbled Shirin.
“Got it, Captain. No yoniphant horns and no lasering.”
“Great. Now, my only request is that you do some research on the traditions of Old Earth. Courtship traditions. See if you can come up with something a female like her might like.”
“Yes, Captain.”
“We won’t let you down.”
“Good. I’m counting on you. Dismissed.”
He watched his Officers walk to the door. Thivo opened it for Shirin and respectfully waited for her to go first. Once he was finally alone, Ark plopped onto the couch and pressed his palms against his closed eyes. He could feel a headache coming up.
“I hope you don’t mess this up,” he whispered, not sure whether he was referring to his Officers, or talking to himself. “It’s not every day one gets to find one’s twin flame.”
CHAPTER NINE
Allie stomped down the corridor leading to the Bridge, her brows furrowed and lips mumbling a river of curses under her breath. Skippy, the alien bunny she had found on planet Lyra, was clutched tightly to her chest. Even if he wanted to protest or move around, it would’ve been impossible, since his new mother was holding him so fiercely that she was almost crushing him.
“Where in the world is Shirin?” she asked herself for the thousandth time in the past couple of hours. “Why is no one answering me?”
It was safe to say Allie considered the Second Officer to be her best friend, which was why she had contacted her first thing in the morning, when she had woken up and had Skippy almost give her a heart attack. Shirin, however, hadn’t answered to any of her calls. At all. Thinking she was probably busy, Allie had tried Ark next, but he hadn’t answered to her telepathic cry of help either. Apparently, they were both busy. Desperate, she had even resorted to contacting Thivo, although she couldn’t exactly say she knew him well enough to ask him for favors. It was an emergency, though. She had waited for as long as she could, but there was no way in hell she could wait any longer. Skippy needed help. She needed help. Now.
Just as she took the last turn, Allie ran face first into what felt like a brick wall.
“Ouch! For fuck’s sake!”
It reminded her of the first time she had run into a similar brick wall back on Old Earth, when she was trying to escape the wrath of the white, pretty ships. She tilted her head upwards, r
ubbed her nose, and huffed when she met Ark’s intense blue gaze.
“Of course! Who else?”
“I’ve been looking all over for you,” he said, paying no mind to the way she was clutching her nose, or Skippy, or to the daggers her beautiful orbs were currently throwing at him.
“Well, I’ve been looking all over for you, or Shirin, or Thivo, or anyone, actually.” She took a deep breath and scrunched up her nose, only to cringe in pain. “Damn it! You almost broke my nose. Again.”
“I’m sorry, it’s not my fault you’re running around all the time. Like… like a headless chicken? You said that on your home planet, right?”
“That’s not a compliment.”
He shrugged. “It wasn’t supposed to be? Here, I can help you with that.”
He pressed his thumb and index finger at the base of her small, cute nose and kept them there for a couple of seconds.
“Better?”
Allie cocked an eyebrow, pushed his hand away, and scrunched up her nose again.
“Hmm… yes. How did you do it?”
“Let’s say it’s one of my special gifts,” he smirked, “… to take your pain away.”
He chuckled awkwardly and was slightly disappointed when Allie didn’t catch his message.
“Whatever. Where’s Shirin? Is she on the Bridge? Is she really that busy?”
“Yes, she and Thivo are working on a little project for me. They’re not available now.”
“Great! Then, I hope you can help me because I’m going bonkers here.”
She released her tight hold on the fluff ball with the intention of showing it to Ark and explaining what had happened.
Instead, Ark glanced at Skippy for a fraction of a second and made him disappear into thin air.
Allie’s jaw dropped.
“Please tell me you weren’t going to bring Skippy on the Bridge! No pets allowed.”
“What the…? No! No, no, no, no. You don’t understand.”
“Skippy can wait. I want to show you something.”
“What? Not now. Why?”
“Come on. Right this way. I’m so excited! I hope you’ll like it.”
His enthusiasm made Allie forget about her Skippy problem for a moment, and obediently follow Ark to a part of the ship she hadn’t explored much. It held the quarters of the people working on the Bridge.
“Where are you taking me?”
“Shh… It’s a surprise.”
“A surprise? I never took you for the kind of guy who makes surprises out of the blue.”
“It’s not as out of the blue as you think, but we can talk about that later.”
He stopped in front of a large white door, and turned to face Allie.
“Now, close your eyes.”
Instead of doing as he said, Alison studied his features, trying to figure out what was going on. It was all too sudden. Yes, she knew Ark liked her, he’d made that much clear during their quick adventure on Lyra, and she was starting to become pretty sure that she liked him too. She had her reservations, though. After all, she’d only known him for a little while, and he still was the tall, blue alien who had taken her from Earth on board of his ship without her consent. Even though his easy-going personality, handsome face, and gorgeous body were doing all kinds of things to her feminine parts and late-night dreams, Allie didn’t want to jump into those big, strong arms of his too quickly.
A long time ago, in her teenage years, she had made a promise to herself she would never give in to a man’s charms just because he happened to be hot as hell. The guy she’s give her heart to also needed to have brains and a good, reliable character. So far, Arkvar the Unxendi had been ticking off a lot of conditions on her mental list. If he had been human, Allie would’ve considered jumping his bones just about yesterday. However, he wasn’t human. His skin was dark blue, his eyes were unreal, and his psychic abilities scared her a little. Okay. Scared her a lot. Those details alone had added about a dozen new conditions to her list.
“Do you trust me?” he asked, seeing she had no intention to close her eyes.
“No.” There was no trace of hesitation in her voice.
Ark sighed, then puffed his cheeks while considering his options.
That made Allie laugh. The sight of a tall, bulky alien puffing his cheeks like a child who’d just been refused candy was hilarious. Before she knew it, his silly expression had won her over.
“Alright, I’ll close my eyes, and you can show me whatever you want to show me. But then, you’re helping me with Skippy. Deal?”
Ark’s whole face lit up with joy.
“Deal!”
Allie took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and did her best to relax. Despite what she had told him, she did trust him up to some extent, so she figured nothing that bad could come out of her allowing him to take the control for a while and guide her through the large white door.
When they had stopped in front of it, her first thought had been that it could be a bedroom, but then she looked at the other doors down the corridor, and this one was nothing like them. It was considerably bigger, and white when the others were gray, which meant it could be some sort of conference room.
As Ark pressed the button to open it, and placed his warm hand on the small of her back, Allie hoped she was right and it wasn’t his bedroom, or anything. On second thought, given he was the Captain of The Hesperia, it made sense that his personal quarters would be different and much bigger than the rest of the crew’s.
The first thing she noticed after the door closed behind her and Ark was the intense smell of patchouli permeating the room. Her sensitive nose told her it wasn’t exactly patchouli, but something similar. She wondered whether there were scented candles spread all over the floor, or even… no! She refused to go there. She didn’t want to think of a bed as one of the pieces of furniture present inside this particular room.
She found it strange that the temperature here was slightly higher, which made the patchouli-infused air warm and pleasant. She did her best to keep her eyes closed, although her curiosity was through the roof. When she felt Ark remove his hand from the small of her back and stepping aside, Allie almost wanted to grab on to him. Instead, she squeezed her hands into fists and focused on breathing normally. She also noticed Kimmy hadn’t made a move, which meant she was safe. If there had been any kind of threat, the Kidem would’ve surely tightened around her body in an attempt to warn her and protect her.
Without Arkvar’s soft touch and gentle closeness, Alison felt as if she were inside a void. She smiled tensely and waited for something to happen. When nothing did happen, she opened her mouth to speak, only to be silenced by a sudden shuffle coming from somewhere to her left. Cold chills ran up her spine at the realization that they weren’t alone in the room. A thousand questions exploded in her head, but none was clear enough to be worth asking out loud.
“You can open your eyes now.”
The softness in Ark’s voice intrigued her. Whatever this was, it was important to him.
If someone were to observe Alison Page from the outside, they would’ve been impressed at how her sky-blue eyes kept opening and opening, until they were so wide they were in danger of popping out of their sockets.
For the second time in the span of less than half an hour, Allie’s jaw dropped while she remained speechless. Her gaze flew around the room, taking in as many details and information as possible, then stopped on the three blue men standing proudly in front of her. They were naked. They were as naked as the day they were born, and no matter how hard she tried to look away, Allie’s eyes remained stubbornly glued to their strong chests, ripped abs, and astonishingly massive packages hanging between their thighs. What was even more mind-blowing than Ark bringing her into a room where three shamelessly naked men were awaiting her, was that one of them was his First Officer, Thivo.
Something snapped inside her brain, and she finally reacted the only way a person i
n her right mind could. She covered her eyes with both hands, let out a terrified scream, and backed away until her shoulder blades found the cold metal of the door.
“Alison? What… what’s wrong?”
Ark’s bewildered voice was barely audible over her uninterrupted screaming.
Allie only pushed herself harder against the door, wanting nothing but to get out, run as fast as she could, and lock herself up in her room to process the eye trauma. She knew there was a button on the wall and if she pressed it the door would open, but she needed both her hands to cover her eyes and rub them fiercely in a failed attempt to delete the image of three blue, perfectly erect cocks off her retina. Her second option was to will the door to open through her power of manifestation, but that was just as out of the question as the first option. Her head was filled with questions, what the fuck’s, and a naked Thivo up to the point when Allie could swear she was seconds away from a stroke.
“Allie, please stop.” Ark closed the space between him and the terrified woman, and grabbed her wrists. “Just tell me what’s wrong, and I promise I’ll make it go away, but please stop screaming.”
He tried to gently pull her hands away from her eyes, but there was no use. He had never heard a female scream like that in his whole life. The sound was driving him insane, while the whole experience was making his heart sink little by little. He couldn’t wrap his head around what was happening and why she was reacting so violently, but he did have a vague impression Thivo might have messed up his task pretty badly.
“Alison, please…” he begged.
“What the fuck, Arkvar?! What the actual fuck?!”
She pushed him away and stared into his eyes, doing everything she could to keep her attention on him and not allow it to slip back to the three aliens behind him, who seemed rather confused by her behavior.
“I don’t understand.”
Ark’s entire posture showed complete helplessness.
Allie took a couple of deep breaths, ran her sweaty, trembling fingers through her hair, and cleared her throat. It was parched. After so much screaming, she needed a huge glass of water, but she couldn’t think about it hard enough to get it.