by Grace White
"Fuck it." His mouth crashed against mine, and I gasped. My hands slid to his shoulders as I clung to him, and he speared his fingers into my hair, plunging his tongue into my mouth.
By the gods, what was happening?
Feelings I had yet to experience rushed through my body, their ferocity startling me. I had secretly imagined what it would be like to kiss this man, but it didn't compare to the real thing. Marcus Denegred was claiming me with his lips as much as he was punishing me.
He consumed me like a man starved: licking, biting and nibbling. One hand wrapped lightly around my throat, holding me in place. And I let him. I let him ruin me...because after this kiss, I knew there would be no going back.
Marcus's body pressed against mine, and I felt the thickness of him against my stomach. It sent a white-hot flash of heat through me and I rubbed shamelessly against him, needing more.
"You taste exactly like I imagined," he murmured against my skin. "Too bad I can't keep you."
My whole body stilled, ripped back to reality with his words. Too bad I can't keep you. He had no intention of this being more than a one-time thing. Whatever was between us wasn't enough for him to care.
I reared back, pressing my body into the wall to put some distance between us. My eyes searched his and what I saw confirmed what I already knew.
Marcus Denegred had slipped, but the moment was over.
"I need to go," I rushed out, sliding between his solid body and the wall.
What had I done?
But more importantly, what had I allowed him to do to me?
Marcus
I watched her leave.
I didn't go after her. What was the point?
I was Human.
She was a Meta.
I yearned for death.
She would live forever.
I shouldn't have tracked her through the club. I shouldn't have cornered her like that. And I definitely shouldn't have kissed her. But by the galaxies, what a kiss. She tasted like everything good left in this solar system. Everything I didn't deserve, and could never have.
Meta or not, Alora was good, that much I was certain of. And even though I was unversed on the Undine species, one thing I did know was they were a relatively peaceful species.
She'd saved me.
It wasn't until I came around on the trolley that Kyan had filled me in on what had happened. I’d remembered losing my footing and struggling under the water, but then it had all gone black.
The doctor and Gardener insisted I take the rest of the week off to give myself time to dry out. Water had seeped into my lungs and they wanted to be certain there was no infection.
I felt fine.
But once her name had fallen from my friend's lips, I hadn't been able to concentrate.
She'd saved me. And, according to Kyan, it had been quite the spectacle.
I ran a brisk hand over my head and down my face. It had been a mistake kissing her.
One I couldn't afford to repeat.
~
I left the club and went back to my dorm. Kyan was too busy all up in the chick he'd been seeing to notice my deteriorating mood.
Maybe letting Alora run out on me was the wrong move. She'd stoked a fire in me that wouldn't subside. Maybe I should have just banged her and gotten her out of my system.
Who was I kidding?
This thing I felt for her wasn't fleeting. Even a guy with my kind of past knew that.
Fuck.
I kicked off my boots and dropped onto the small bed pushed against the wall. It groaned under my weight. Slipping my hand under my pillow, I found the edge of the creased photograph. I pulled it out and held it in front of my face. It was a photo imprinted on my mind. Reginald Denegred and his wife, Surina, standing either side of their bright-eyed boy. My hair was blonder then, than it was silver. That hadn't set in until my early teens. I was ten in the photograph, and it was taken only months before the war broke out. Wreston was my home. I had friends and family and a future.
But it all changed in the blink of an eye.
When they called for volunteers to fight the Metas, Father couldn't step forward because of his heart condition. I was so relieved he wouldn't be leaving. But it quickly became apparent the war was going to be long, brutal, and bloody, and eventually they came to call for all boys and men able to hold a machine gun. By the year I turned twelve, I already had the stature of a sixteen-year-old. Mom begged me not to go, but after watching our new home being destroyed by Meta attacks, I couldn't sit by and do nothing. What I didn't anticipate was the devastation I'd witness, the things I'd do to survive. I was thirteen when I had my first kill. By the time I’d turned fourteen, I’d stopped counting.
I closed my eyes, crumpling the photograph to my chest. When I'd returned to Wreston, Mom and Dad tried to get me to talk about it—the things I'd done, the things I'd seen. Talking wasn't going to fix me, the war had changed me.
I started hanging out with a bad crowd. Taking anything I could get my hands on. Stealing to pay for it. Anything to get high and forget. And when the synthetic high was no longer enough, I sought other adrenaline rushes.
Until I crossed the wrong man…
It was supposed to be an easy heist. Get in, get out. But I hadn't done my homework on the mark, a well-known crime lord in our decimated neighborhood. I hadn't known he had a young daughter. A daughter that stayed with him on the weekend. She appeared out of nowhere, clutching her stuffed toy, staring at us with fear shining in her little eyes. Cody, my partner on the job, panicked and fired a warning shot. He always was a shit aim. She dropped to the floor, a pool of dark red seeping around her, and like two desperate cowards, we ran.
Cody turned up dead a week later and I returned home to find Devin's men aiming guns at my parents. I begged for death. My place for theirs. But my death was too easy, and Devin saw an opportunity to make me suffer. He turned me over to his contact in the Wreston Metro Police, and three months later, I entered the Complex under the guise of serving my time for my crimes. But Devin would be waiting come release day—to collect his one-hundred thousand S-Co in one hand and deliver my death sentence with the other. In exchange, my parents would live.
That was my purpose here.
Not to make friends, or better my life, or meet someone. I'd hurt enough people in my short lifetime without adding any more to the list. Especially not a dark-haired beauty with eyes the color of where the sea meets sky.
~
"Good to see you back." Gardener clapped me on the shoulder as he went about his usual morning walk around. "Stay on dry land today, huh."
I shot him a terse glare. Motherfucker. He laughed it off, moving on to the next area, and I set about my daily routine. Lift. Carry. Weigh. Repeat. Before long, my muscles pinched and beads of sweat trickled down my back. Kyan tried to talk me into taking five, but I refused, only accepting the bottle of water he offered.
I didn’t want to talk.
I didn’t want to stop.
I just wanted to do my job, fall into bed tonight, and start all over again tomorrow. Life had been much easier then. Before her. Before I began to wonder what it would be like to have someone to come home to.
“Denegred, take five, you have a visitor,” Gardener shouted across the farm. I scanned the area and sure enough there she was, rocking awkwardly on the balls of her feet, eyes darting anywhere but at the group of guys leering in her direction.
“Get back to it,” I growled, passing them. What the fuck was she doing here? Didn’t she get the message at the club? This—whatever this was—couldn’t happen.
Alora’s eyes widened as I approached her. She’d pinned her hair back off her face and my eyes drank in the length of her neck. The same neck I’d wrapped my hand around at the club. My dick twitched, and I knew this had to end.
It had to end right now.
“What the fuck do you want?” I narrowed my eyes at her and she flinched, visibly shaken by my tone. Good, she needed to
see me for the jackass I really was.
“I… I just wanted to make sure you were okay and to apologize.”
“Apologize?” I snapped.
She swallowed hard and her neck flushed all the way up to her cheeks. “I didn’t ask how you were before I left and I... I just wanted to know that you’re okay.” Her shoulders rolled back and her boldness caught me off guard. “You are okay, aren’t you?”
I closed the distance between us, aware that the guys were all watching. Kyan was going to have questions later, and I hated nothing more than answering questions. But I couldn’t resist the urge to be closer to her. She drew me in like a magnet. I really needed to find out if Undines worked some voodoo magic like Sirens because whenever she was in a half-mile radius I gravitated to her like I had no fucking choice over the matter.
“You shouldn’t have come here, Alora,” I said keeping my voice even. Indifferent.
It had taken balls, turning up here. I knew now, that she felt this thing between us. I could see it written on her face, the way her eyes kept raking down my body. She was attracted to me, wanted me, just as I craved her. But, deep down, I knew it was more. It was a real honest to the galaxies connection.
“I…I should go.” Her gaze dropped to the floor and she turned ready to bolt. For a split second, I felt guilty. Guilty that I couldn’t be who she needed me to be—who she wanted me to be.
“Wait.” I caught her wrist, drawing her back to me. “Why did you come here, Alora? Really?”
"I told you, I wanted to know you were okay."
"I'm fine. Thanks to you." Although I was beginning to think drowning would have been a better alternative to this.
"Listen." I scrubbed a hand down my face, feeling the bite of my days-old scruff. "You can't be coming around here, okay?"
I saw the flash of hope in her eyes. Shit. I needed to put an end to this. Once and for all.
"I appreciate what you did for me, but this,"—I motioned between us—"Ain't never going to happen. I like my women a little less alien, if you catch my drift."
The color drained from her face. "I- I understand." She bit back the tears pooling in her eyes, turned, and ran.
I wanted to go after her—to beg for forgiveness and feel her sweet lips on mine again. But it was for the best. Nothing good could come from us pursuing this thing.
So why did it hurt so fucking much watching her go?
As if my day couldn’t get any worse, as I walked back to my post a voice said, “You told her good.”
I spun around to find one of the guys smirking at me. “What did you say?” I said, closing the distance, anger pulsating through me.
“Those Meta bitches need to know how it is.”
“Yeah, and how is it exactly?” I cocked my head to one side trying to rein in the burning desire to lay him on his ass.
“They’re freaks, man, plain and simple. This whole thing is a fucking joke. Metas and Humans co-existing in a giant glass fish bowl. It’s not natural.”
Not so long ago, I’d felt the same—maybe to some extent, I still did—but I didn’t like hearing him talk about Alora like that. I didn’t like it at all. We were pulling a crowd. Men stopped working their posts, watching us. Even Gardener climbed down from his station, probably ready to call for back up if needed.
I couldn’t afford a run in with the Intra so I inhaled a calming breath and barked, “Go back to work, Patroni.” Turning my back on him, I reached for the bucket.
“Shame she’s a Meta freak because I wouldn’t have minded taking that sweet piece of a—”
My body slammed against his and I wrapped a hand around his throat squeezing until his eyes bugged so wide I thought they might pop.
“Whoa, easy.” Kyan was on me, pulling me off with another guy. But all I saw was red. And black. And a whole fucking explosion of colors behind my eyes.
“Walk it off, Denegred, NOW,” Gardener’s voice boomed and I let Kyan drag away, leaving the overseer to deal with Patroni.
Kyan saw the funny side, as always, and all he had to say on the matter was, “Guess you have a heart, after all.”
Fucker.
Alora
He didn't feel the same.
I'd been convinced he did, with the way he'd kissed me, touched me, at the club. But at the farm, Marcus had looked at me with nothing but contempt in his dark gaze. I’d felt his irritation at my presence. And then he'd said the words that pierced my heart. I like my women a little less alien.
It had been a mistake going to see him.
An error I wouldn't make again.
Eventually, these feelings would pass. They had to. There was still eighteen months left of the experiment. Five hundred more days of this torture.
"What were you doing down there?" Allegra was on me the second I reached my suite. When I didn't answer her, she stepped out in front of me, blocking my route. "Alora, answer me. What were you doing down there?"
"Nothing, Allegra." I barged past her. "I was doing nothing."
She grabbed my arm and pain splintered through me. "Don't lie to me."
My eyes collided with hers, narrowing with anger. "I did nothing wrong, sister."
"You think I don't know you saved the Human? People talk, sister, and they have some very interesting things to say about the two of you."
They did?
"I couldn't watch him die."
"Why? He's nothing to you." Her unspoken words hung in the air between us. And then she whispered, "Is he?"
I turned to meet her curious gaze. She didn't look angry so much as she looked confused. I'd never shown much interest in Humans before.
"I... I don't know."
Her eyes widened. "You don't know?"
"It's confusing... I'm confused."
"Confused about what exactly?" She sneered. "He is a criminal, Alora. A lowlife Human. What could you possibly have to be confused over?"
She didn't understand, she couldn't. I didn't even understand it.
When I didn't reply, she let out a heavy sigh. "You are Elemental royalty, or have you forgotten that? One day we will command the Kingdom. Do not screw up your entire future for a Human that wants nothing more than to defile your body."
Ignoring her last statement, I said, "You mean the Kingdom that relies on us completing our time in this experiment?"
"Alora, we are doing this for Father. For the future of our kind. To secure us a Kingdom on Creda. It is our duty. Do not forgot that. And do not see the Human again. It is forbidden."
Allegra nodded curtly and left me alone. No doubt to sit on her words—her warning. She talked of duty as if I hadn't spent the last millennia upholding my duty. Never once had I questioned things, until coming here. Until being ripped from my life and forced to spend my days locked away in a domed prison. Maybe that was it—having my freedom removed ignited something inside of me that had me questioning my existence. My purpose. I saw it every day around me. Meta and Humans falling in love, fighting, aligning themselves with the enemy, redrawing the lines. I wasn't the only one affected by the Ama Seldova's great social experiment. But it didn't matter now.
Marcus Denegred had made his choice.
And it wasn't me.
~
When I arrived at the Spa, Madam Dubraire was acting strange. She didn't ask me outright, but I knew it had to do with Marcus.
My heart sank again.
He didn't show up for his appointment. I spent three hours massaging clients, barely hearing their idle chitchat.
And then I noticed it.
The blue flower in the thin vase behind a stack of towels. I plucked it out and brought it to my nose. The sweet smell filled my senses. A reminder of home. Vaimm. By the gods, it had been so long since I swam in the Seas of Sequoia. The Lapisalia grew at the water's edge. A deep vibrant blue, it blended into the landscape giving off its sweet aroma. My sisters and I often picked its petals to make garlands and perfume.
My communication device bleeped and Mada
m Dubraire's voice filled the line. "Everything go smoothly?"
"Yes, everything went fine," I said.
"Excellent. I'll see you Sunday?"
"Of course. Can I ask you something?"
Silence lingered until she cleared her throat. "Go on."
"Who was in Room Three before my shift started?"
"Fraia."
Jealousy flared through me.
"And her clients?"
"I'm not at liberty to tell you that, Alora. You know that."
"Please," my voice wavered. But I needed to know.
She let out a heavy sigh. "Mr Lagos. Madam F' Luan. And Mr Denegred."
This time it was I who was silent.
"Alora, is there something I should know about you and Mr Denegred?"
"No, no," I said. "Everything is fine. Good evening, Madam Dubraire. I'll see you Sunday."
On the walk back to the housing dome, I twirled the Lapisalia absently between my fingers. He didn't want to pursue this thing between us, that much was obvious, but he couldn't quite let it go either.
The thought gave me more hope that it should. Because what did I really expect—or even want—to happen? Maybe under the guise of this experiment, we could explore the connection between us. The pull. But then what? When the breech doors opened and the residents of the Complex returned to their home planets, then what happened?
Allendra was waiting for me when I reached my suite. Tears trickled down her face as she sobbed silently into the corridor.
"Len, what is it?"
"I... he..."
"Come, come inside." I ushered her into the room, closing the door behind us. "What happened?"
"I..." she sniffled. "I told him I thought we could have a future together, something real, you know, and he started kissing me. One thing led to another and we... we had..." her sad eyes met mine and understanding sank into my bones.
"You slept with him."
She nodded, a fresh wave of tears leaking from her eyes.
"Well, that's okay, isn't it? I mean, you both like each other and he seems nice. So, he's not Undine? At least, he's an Elemental. I'm sure Father would—"
"He said he'd call me," she blurted out.