by Tasha Black
The woman on the screen began to moan just as Arden slipped back through the curtain and out of sight.
But he didn’t hear the click of her heels on the concrete floor.
She was right there, just on the other side of the curtain.
The thought of it excited him terribly.
He untied the sash of his robe and took himself in his hand as he was supposed to, as he did each morning at this time.
But today somehow it felt urgent.
He closed his eyes and felt the memory of Arden’s small, soft hand instead of his own.
He groaned lightly, understanding now why the actors on the screen were always making so much noise.
Just outside the curtain he heard Arden’s quick intake of breath.
His cock throbbed in his hand and he bit back another groan.
Normally he chased his release quickly. It felt good, and after all it was his work. He completed this task, and then he was free to wander the laboratory, read Dr. Bhimani’s encyclopedias, and convene with his brothers until his next release just before lunchtime.
But this was different. Arden was right there, inches away. He could smell her sweet fragrance.
He forced himself to slow his pace, extend this strange intimacy as long as he could.
His world narrowed to the awareness of her and the pounding demands of his body, which he attempted to thwart for as long as he could.
Too soon his climax was ripped from him. He nearly sobbed with relief as the pleasure sent shivers down his spine.
Only then did he hear the click of her shoes across the floor as she finally headed back to replace the box of tapes at the front of the lab.
Panting, he leaned back against the wall of his cubicle.
Intense.
Everything about this strange new world seemed merry and relaxed. The techs were always joking, and Dr. Bhimani was kind and friendly.
Arden Green was intense.
And Drago loved her for it.
3
Dr. Bhimani
Maya Bhimani paced the floor of the observatory at the end of a day that had seemed longer than most.
She had made a big pot of tea, but she’d left it in the kitchen. She was too nervous to be carrying around a breakable mug full of hot liquid.
Although the plan she was about to put into place had been a long time in the making, now that the moment of truth had arrived, the risks loomed so much larger than before.
And she wasn’t the only one taking a risk.
Not even close.
A flash of lightning cut through the darkening sky outside followed by a boom of thunder. The weather might have been viewed as ominous, but Maya took it as a good omen. It would provide a good cover.
A gentle tap on the door brought her out of her thoughts.
“Come in,” Maya called, wiping her palms on her skirt.
“You wanted to see me, Doctor Bhimani?” Arden’s voice was as soft as her knock. Maya realized all over again how young she was.
Too young for what you’re about to ask?
“Yes, thank you for coming,” Maya said, ignoring the protesting voice in her head.
She indicated a wooden bench that curved along the wall of the observatory.
Arden sat on the edge of it, hands gripping the wood as if she thought she were in trouble.
She might be, if you have your way…
Maya pushed the thought away.
“When I hired you, you had no lab experience,” Maya began. “You weren’t even looking for this kind of work.”
“I was studying botany,” Arden said, nodding.
“But you agreed to join me here, before you even knew about the men,” Maya said.
“I needed a job,” Arden shrugged.
“When you got here and saw what the job would entail you could have walked away,” Maya pointed out. “Why did you stay?”
Arden opened her mouth and closed it again.
Maya waited, glad the girl was thinking before she spoke, that she cared to answer truthfully, yet was clever enough to answer carefully.
Arden’s large eyes and thoughtful expression reminded Maya momentarily of her own daughter, Rima. Perhaps there was hope…
“I think there are a couple of reasons I stayed,” Arden said at length. “Parts of this job may be a little… unorthodox, but it’s interesting to meet people from another planet.”
“So you like the adventure of it?” Maya asked.
“Well, that and of course we’re helping them, or trying to.”
Trying to…
She was young, but she was no fool.
“It feels good to help people, of course,” Maya agreed.
Arden nodded, though she looked a little uncomfortable.
“Is there maybe another reason too?” Maya offered gently.
The poor girl’s cheeks went bright pink.
Maya hid her smile. It was true. Good. That would make it easier.
“You don’t have to tell me,” Maya told her. “I know what we said, about being careful not to get too friendly with these boys. But if you have a connection with one of them, I’m glad.”
Arden looked up at her, those strange hazel eyes flashing with interest.
This was the moment, if ever there was one.
“Arden Green, I am going to ask you to take on another job you didn’t interview for,” Maya said. “It is risky. But it promises to be an adventure where you help people.”
“What’s the job?” Arden looked suspicious.
“It’s more of a mission, a covert one,” Maya said. “These boys were sent here to click. And the work you do with them, it isn’t having an effect yet. Do you think it will ever work?”
“No,” Arden said without any hesitation.
“I don’t think it will either,” Maya said fervently. “And when their government and ours figure that out, I’m not sure what will happen to them. That’s why we have to help.”
“How can I help them, Dr. Bhimani?” Arden asked.
“The owner of the farm next door, Helen Martin, is a good woman,” Maya told her. “We’re not close but we’ve done favors for one another here and there over the years. She told me once she would never turn away a neighbor in need. Helen can always use extra hands on the farm now that her kids are grown and gone. Take three of the boys with you and go to her. You and Helen can help each other.”
“Wh-what do you mean?” Arden asked.
“Get out of here with three of the men,” Maya repeated. “Save them.”
Outside, thunder rumbled as if the storm was as incredulous as the young girl before her.
“Won’t someone notice they’re missing?” Arden asked.
“I’ll cover it as long as I can,” Maya said. “The lab exercise is a failure. It’s up to you to start a new phase of the experiment out there in the real world.”
She hoped her message was clear. Maya didn’t want to come right out and say she was pulling for Arden and Drago to get together. That might put too much pressure on the girl. But she thought Arden would get her point.
“Won’t someone notice I’m missing?” Arden asked.
Arden was right. Maya hadn’t planned for that. She’d been too concerned about the boys. Someone would want to know what happened to the girl.
But there was a loud knock on the door before they could address the issue.
“Come in.”
The door swung open to reveal a tall, broad-shouldered man with sandy blond hair.
MacGyver, the leader of the men from Aerie.
There was an electric instant of tension in the air.
“Sorry,” MacGyver said. “Am I interrupting something?”
“You can’t fire me, I quit,” Arden cried, leaping to her feet.
“I’ll take that as a yes,” MacGyver said, taking a step back.
For a moment Maya had no clue what was going on. She stared in abject wonder at the young woman, who seemed to have lost her mind.
“And I’m never coming back,” Arden said significantly.
Oh. Clever child.
“You will find your things in the storage shed by the barn,” Maya said in the coldest voice she could muster.
Arden gaped at her.
“You heard me. Your things will be waiting for you in the storage shed,” Maya repeated. “Retrieve them and get off my property at once.”
Arden snapped her mouth shut and flounced past a stunned MacGyver and out the room.
For a botanist she really was a good actor. And a quick thinker.
Maya allowed herself to hope the boys would be in good hands.
4
Drago
Drago leaned against the cool metal wall of the storage shed while his two brothers paced the floor.
Although Drago was agitated, he hid his concerns behind his usual cool facade. Burton and Riggs looked to Drago as the leader of their small group. It was his duty to ensure they remained calm.
The air inside the dimly-lit shed was warm and humid. Through the crack in the door, Drago could see the rain beginning to fall outside. The trees held out their leaves in welcome as the rain made oddly musical pinging sounds on the tin roof of the shed.
When he had first arrived on Earth, Drago had been hypnotized by rain. His homeland of Aerie was a dry planet, too close to the stars for moisture to gather for long.
Today he hoped the rain might cover the sounds of their escape. A rumble of thunder sounded, as if in agreement.
“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Burton asked.
“Yes,” Drago said.
“What happens if they catch us?” Burton asked.
Riggs stopped pacing to listen.
“They’re not going to catch us,” Drago replied.
“Are things really so bad in the lab?” Riggs asked.
Drago looked over at his brother.
Riggs was the silent type, slow to complain, slow to question Drago’s unspoken authority.
“Things aren’t so bad right now,” Drago admitted. “But our situation won’t stay the same forever. If we don’t click, then something has to give. And I don’t see it happening in that lab. Sooner or later Earth’s government will try to put us in cages, or Aerie’s leaders will send us home in disgrace.”
What he didn’t say was that the only one Drago thought he might click with was Arden Green. His bond to her was already strong and getting stronger. The thought that he was leaving her today caused him actual physical pain - a tearing in his chest that he had never felt before.
But protecting his brothers was his duty. And Arden was off-limits to him.
“We can’t wait for them to decide their experiment isn’t working,” he said, as much for his own benefit as for his brother's
Riggs nodded slowly.
There was a quiet tap on the door of the shed, just slightly louder than the rain outside.
Drago moved to the door.
He opened it enough to see a woman’s form on the other side.
“Drago,” she breathed.
Joy filled his heart as he recognized Arden.
Dr. Bhimani told him she would send someone to facilitate their escape. He just never imagined…
He opened the door and stepped back to let her in, trying not to make it obvious that he was sucking in a deep breath of the sweet scent that clung to her.
Arden slipped inside quickly, closing the door behind her.
He was surprised to see that she didn’t seem to have anything with her. He wasn’t sure what he’d expected from Dr. Bhimani, but he had expected something.
“What’s the plan?” he asked her.
She looked up at him and even in the dim light from the bare bulb overhead he could see the unusual green of her eyes. Droplets of water clung to her long, dark hair. To Drago, she was the embodiment of this lush new world, all browns and greens, glistening with rain and smelling like ripe produce. He longed to embrace her, but this was forbidden.
“It’s not much of a plan,” she said. “But it’s all we’ve got. Dr. Bhimani wants us to go to the farm next door and ask the owner for help.”
She was right - it wasn’t much of a plan.
But Drago wasn’t about to complain. He could practically feel the waves of sympathy pouring off Arden. She was trying her best. He couldn’t let his last few moments with her be anything but sweet.
“Did she have any suggestions on how we should get past the guards?” he asked.
Arden shook her head.
“We could escape in a laundry cart,” Burton suggested. “You know, like Annie did. Do we have anything like that?”
The movie about the red-haired orphan had been a great favorite of the men back on Aerie as they studied Earth culture.
Drago glanced around the shed. There was nothing large enough to conceal three large men, only stacks of cardboard boxes filled with lab equipment.
“What about a costume?” Riggs asked.
“Like Tootsie,” Burton said, nodding.
“We have something like that,” Arden said. She began to unstack boxes until she found what she wanted.
Drago watched as she pulled out three lab coats.
“These are extra large, so they should be big enough,” she said as she handed the garments to Riggs and Burton.
Drago took his from her, wondering if their hands would brush again, and if the same wave of lust would wash over him as before.
But their hands didn’t touch, and Arden was already opening another box, too set on her task to take any notice of his reaction to her.
“Mine is ripped,” Burton said sadly, looking at the shoulder of his lab coat.
The men were larger than Earth men by just enough to make it hard for Dr. Bhimani to supply them with proper clothing.
“Mine is not ripped, but it feels very… oh. Oh, no. Now it’s ripped,” Riggs said.
“It’s okay. It’s so rainy out there, they might not notice,” Arden chirped, the top half of her buried in a huge box.
Drago cursed his brothers’ carelessness until he slid his own lab coat on and felt the constriction. The fabric gave way with a wrenching sound just as Arden popped up from the box.
“Bingo,” she said, holding up three surgical masks.
“Excellent,” Drago said, not wanting to make her feel bad. Masks or no masks, these men could not be confused with the crew of gangly lab techs that were eternally tripping around the place. And the lab techs didn’t wear surgical masks.
Unless he could think of something else, they were going to be caught immediately.
“This isn’t enough. If you just walk out of here, they’ll be on to us in a New York minute,” Arden said, echoing his thoughts exactly. Except the New York part. He wasn’t sure why they would measure time differently there. “But it’s better than nothing in a pinch and it may help you fade into the background if there’s a distraction.”
“What kind of distraction were you thinking?” Drago asked.
“I hadn’t thought of anything yet,” Arden admitted. “All of this happened kind of fast from my perspective.”
“Ours too,” Drago told her. “Dr. Bhimani spoke to us just before lunch.”
“You could flirt with the guards, Arden,” Burton suggested. “Do you know how to do that?”
“No,” Drago said quickly, jealousy burning his insides. “We’ll think of something else.”
Arden frowned. “I guess my flirting game leaves something to be desired.”
Dammit.
Drago had inadvertently insulted her. He wanted to put it right, but a terrific crash of thunder outside startled them all. The lightning must have been close.
Something occurred to him, something he had been forbidden to do, but which he was sure was the best way to help them.
“Hang on,” he whispered, moving to the door again and cracking it slightly open.
Outside the guards moved slowly in their usual formation. There were four of them, a
rmed lightly.
Dr. Bhimani had explained that the government of Earth and this particular nation would have had a huge and heavily armed military contingent here, except that the ambassadors from Aerie insisted upon minimal security and government presence. The local authorities had to reluctantly de-escalate their plans, or risk losing the opportunity to study the men from Aerie to another of Earth’s nations.
On his own, Drago might have tried to take on the four men. But he had Arden to think of, and his brothers.
Rain smashed down on the guards, the trees and the split rail fence that separated Dr. Bhimani’s property from the farm next door.
The branches of an ancient oak swayed in the wind. It hadn’t grown back all its leaves like the other trees. It had a few limbs that were shaggy with foliage, but most were like dark skeleton arms.
Dr. Bhimani had cautioned the men not to use their gifts in front of anyone, not even the lab techs.
But today was different.
Besides, it was almost fully dark out there and the storm would cover his tracks.
He waited until the guards had paced as far from the shed as possible.
Then he closed his eyes and reached out...
5
Arden
Arden watched as Drago gazed through the doorway and out into the rain.
He seemed to be concentrating on something she couldn’t see. Not that she could see much - his shoulders were so wide he nearly filled the entire threshold.
Lightning flashed, throwing him into harsh silhouette. But the ripped lab coat somehow made him look more like a rock star than a mad scientist.
Outside there was a deafening groan that sounded nothing like thunder, followed by a crash.
Thunder bellowed a split second behind.
“Now,” Drago whispered, turning to beckon the others to the door. “Go, go, go.”
Arden reached the door first and saw the reason for the crash.
A huge oak tree rested on the crushed split rail fence between the observatory grounds and the farm next door. Its canopy blocked the storage shed from view of the guards.