Lisa strode forward. “We need food.” She sank down on the bed. “And you need clothes and”—she motioned helplessly to his chest—“bandages and I don’t know what else to help those wounds heal.”
He shook his head. “You need rest.” She looked as tired as he felt.
“Food first,” she insisted. “When’s the last time you ate something?”
He thought about it. “Before they captured me.”
Dismay rippled across her pretty features. “They’ve been starving you?”
He wanted to ask the same of her. Her limbs were far too thin. “They fed me through tubes.”
Frowning, she dug the mound of papers out of her pocket. “Then we definitely need to get some food in you.”
“I don’t want you to leave.” He feared it wouldn’t be safe.
“I can order a pizza and have it delivered.” Scooting along the edge of the bed, she leaned toward the small table, picked up the communications device that was even more primitive than the motel clerk’s phone, and pressed a button. A moment passed. “Hi,” she said brightly. “This is the couple in room 9. Would you happen to know if there’s a pizza delivery place nearby?” She listened, then moved her mouth as though silently repeating something. “Okay. Thanks.” She hung up the phone, then pressed a long series of numbers. “Hi,” she said again after a minute. “I’d like to order a pizza, please.” She glanced at Taelon. “Make that two pizzas… large… one with extra cheese and the other with, um… do you have a vegetable-lover pizza or one with lots of vegetable toppings?… Yeah, that sounds great. We’re in room 9 of the Thornview Motel. Do you know where that is?” She listened. “Okay. Thank you.”
Abandoning the phone, she rose. “It’ll be here in thirty to forty-five minutes. Why don’t you lie down and rest? I’m going to clean up a bit so you won’t have to make the delivery guy not see the blood.”
Barely able to remain on his feet, Taelon agreed and carefully lowered himself onto one of the chairs beside the table.
Chapter Six
Taelon swallowed the last bite of pizza and sighed. Several hours had passed and no soldiers had banged on the door or burst into the room wielding weapons.
He studied Lisa. Slumped in the chair across the small, wobbly table, she struggled to stay awake.
“You should rest,” he said softly, relieved when his voice emerged almost normal. His throat didn’t ache as much as it had when he’d spoken earlier, soothed by the cold tea drink Lisa had ordered, or perhaps by the warm cheese that coated the pizza he had devoured.
The cheese, Lisa had told him, was made from the milk of bovines. It reminded him of the soldalane his people sometimes dribbled on fruit back on Lasara.
She covered her mouth with a small hand to stifle another yawn. “I’m okay.”
He shook his head. “You can barely keep your eyes open.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. I can barely keep my own open.”
She mustered a smile. “Let’s see if we can’t get a few hours of sleep then.”
He slid the bed a glance. There was only one in the room.
Her smile broadened. “Don’t worry. We’ll fit.”
His eyebrows rose. “Both of us? You would let me sleep beside you?”
She blinked. “Well, yeah. There’s only one bed.” She said it matter-of-factly, as though such was a foregone conclusion. “Although your feet will probably hang off the end. You’re really tall.”
He stared at her.
“What?”
“On my planet, unmarried females and males aren’t allowed to share a bed. It’s against the law.”
Her eyes widened. “Really? Even if they’re consenting adults?”
He nodded.
“Oh. Well, they can here.”
That might be a primary contributor to Earth’s overpopulation.
Concern about overpopulation on his planet and its network of terraformed moons was what had prompted the Lasaran people to enact that law.
Her cheeks pinkened. “I mean, it’s not like we’re going to do anything.” Anything sexual, her tone implied. “We’re just going to sleep.”
Still he frowned. “Your family will not object?”
Grief darkened her pretty features. “I don’t have family. They died.”
Reaching across the table, he took her hand. “I’m sorry.”
She squeezed his fingers, then winced and sucked in a sharp breath. She dropped her free hand to her belly.
His concern deepened. “You’re in pain. You need a medic.”
She didn’t speak for a moment while she breathed deeply in and out. “That wouldn’t be wise.”
“Why?”
“We’ll discuss that later. Let’s get some sleep first.” Releasing him, she rose, headed into the bathroom, and closed the door.
Taelon grabbed the long weapon she had confiscated from the soldier back in the lab and leaned it against the wall next to the bed. Lisa emerged a couple of minutes later.
Every move sparking agony, Taelon made his way into the bathroom to use the facilities. When he returned to the bedroom, Lisa was already in bed, curled up on her side under the blanket. He left the light on in the bathroom and turned off the overhead light in the main room, then limped over to the bed. As he drew the covers back on the unoccupied side, he expected her to change her mind and tell him to sleep on the floor or in a chair. But she didn’t. The mattress dipped beneath his weight as he sat on the edge.
Lisa stiffened to keep from rolling into him, then relaxed once he stretched out on his back.
He held his breath until the pain the simple movement inspired lessened, then let it out in a tired sigh. He turned his head and studied her in the dim light.
Her eyes glistened. When she blinked, moisture slipped past her lashes and slid toward the mattress.
His heart clenched. Rolling onto his side, he cupped her face in one hand and brushed away a tear. “Is it the pain?” he whispered, still uncertain what the doctors had done to her.
“No,” she replied softly, her voice thick with tears. “It’s just… everything catching up with me. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be.” He had wanted to weep many times since he’d been captured and realized just what those butchers had probably done to his sister.
Her breath hitched in a sob. “Brad died trying to save me.”
He fought a frown. “Who is Brad?” She had said she wasn’t bonded to a male. But that didn’t mean none courted her.
“He worked for the Anomalous Cognition Research Institute, the people who kidnapped me.”
Anger rose.
“He didn’t know what they were,” she went on, perhaps reading the fury he felt for anyone connected to the base. “When I went missing, he suspected they were involved, so he spent months looking for me.”
“You were close?”
“No. Not really. I mean, I liked him. He was a nice guy. But we didn’t date or anything.” More tears welled in her big brown eyes. “He brought me these clothes when the vampires attacked. He was going to help me escape, but they shot him.”
“The vampires?”
“No. One of the guards. He shot Brad so many times.” She shook her head. “I couldn’t do anything. I couldn’t help him. Couldn’t save him. It happened so fast. He gave me the money and the paper and then… he died.”
Taelon eased closer until the knees she’d drawn up touched his belly. Then he curled his body around hers.
Gripping the front of his shirt, she buried her face in his chest.
“I’m sorry, Lisa,” he whispered.
She burrowed closer. “I’m scared.”
She was wise to be afraid. For all they knew, they were being hunted right now.
“We’ll get through this,” he murmured. “We’ll get through it together. We’ll keep each other safe.”
She nodded.
He held her while she wept, silently vowing to make every Earthling who had ha
rmed Lisa, Amiriska, and himself pay. Like the vampires and the soldiers in black, Taelon would leave no man alive to carry tales.
Thunk.
Lisa jerked awake. For a moment, she couldn’t remember where she was. Nor did she know whose large, warm body she was snuggled up against.
Cautiously raising her head, she peered at the male.
Taelon.
Right. The alien with whom she had escaped. The alien who had no idea she carried his baby.
He lay on his back, one arm curled around her and keeping her close to his side. The other hand clutched his chest as though even in slumber the horrific wound pained him.
Thunk. Thunk.
She glanced at the window. Bright light filtered through the curtains.
Was that the sound of motel doors closing or car doors?
Easing away from Taelon, she scooted out of bed and crept over to the window. Please let it be weary vacationers arriving or departing. Kids running around, playing after being cooped up in a car for too long. Teenagers looking for a place to party.
Flattening herself—as well as she could anyway—against the wall, she slowly drew one corner of the ragged curtain back enough to unobtrusively peek outside.
Her heart began to pound. Fear rose. Two black SUVs were parked behind the Humvee, caging it between them. Men garbed all in black—long-sleeved T-shirts, black cargo pants, and bulletproof vests—exited the vehicles. And every one of them was well armed.
Two strode toward the office while the rest checked out the Humvee.
Lisa released the curtain, careful not to make a ripple that might draw attention. “Shit. Shit. Shit,” she whispered. The motel room had no back door, and neither she nor Taelon had a hope in hell of fitting through the bathroom window.
Spotting her discarded white lab coat, she grabbed it and stuffed it between the mattress and box springs. Hurrying into the bathroom, she grabbed the hand towels they had stained with blood and stuffed them under the mattress, too.
Taelon continued to sleep deeply, unaffected by the jostling.
“Taelon,” she hissed.
Muted masculine conversation reached her ears, but she only caught a few words and phrases.
“…dressed in black?”
“…down on the end there.”
“Anyone else?”
“A married couple…”
Swearing, she rested a hand on Taelon’s shoulder and gave him a shake. “Taelon,” she hissed again.
When he didn’t respond, a new fear arose. He wasn’t dead, was he? He had felt warm when she had awoken, but…
She drew the covers down to his waist and stared at his chest. Beneath the black fabric it rose and fell with breath.
Relief filled her… until boots thudded past the room. Two shadows crossed the window. Knocks sounded down the way. When they didn’t find anyone in the far room, they would be stupid not to come here next.
Grabbing the weapon she had confiscated last night, she shoved it under the pillows. Even when the movement rocked his head, Taelon didn’t rouse.
He wasn’t in a coma, was he?
Clambering onto the bed, she shook him again. “Taelon. Wake up.”
The knocks at the other end of the motel became pounds. “DEA! Open up!”
“DEA, my ass,” she muttered.
Crash!
“Damn it, Taelon, wake up,” she urged, shaking him harder.
He grimaced and gripped his chest.
Booted footsteps approached.
Not knowing what else to do, she slung a leg over Taelon’s hips and straddled him.
His eyes flew open. Taelon stared up at her in confusion. “Lisa?”
“I can’t believe I’m doing this,” she muttered. Reaching down, she gripped her maternity tunic and yanked it over her head.
His green eyes widened as they dropped to her breasts, which were doing their damnedest to spill out of her bra. “What—?”
“They’re here,” she whispered urgently. “The soldiers in black. I tried to wake you, but I couldn’t.”
He looked as though his mind was still foggy from sleep as he glanced toward the window.
“They’ve already checked the room by the Humvee. Now they’re coming here. Can you keep them from seeing your wounds?”
“Yes.”
Lisa tugged his shirt up over his head as gently as she could, then stuffed it under the covers. “Then do it.” She grabbed the remote on the bedside table and aimed it at the television. The screen lit up with a commercial.
Several staccato knocks rocked the door.
Nerves rattling, she bit her lip and looked down at Taelon. Heat rushed to her cheeks. “I can’t believe I’m doing this,” she said again, “but it will distract them.” Grabbing the tight sports bra, she yanked it over her head and tossed it to the floor beside her tunic.
Taelon gaped up at her in shock.
Thud, thud, thud. “DEA. Open up.”
Leaving the covers at her waist, she leaned down until her nose nearly touched his. “If this doesn’t work,” she whispered, “the gun is under the pillows.” Pulse pounding in her ears, Lisa closed the remaining distance between them and touched her lips to his.
He rested his hands on her hips.
Lisa thought he intended to shove her off. He had, after all, told her that this kind of intimate contact was forbidden on his planet.
Instead, those large hands squeezed her hips, then slid around and up her back, pressing her closer until her big tummy was smooshed against his flat abs and her full breasts rubbed his chest. His soft, warm lips parted. His tongue slipped out to tease hers.
Heat flashed through her, shocking her to her core. Holy hell, the man could kiss.
Even though her weight on his wounds must be causing him a lot of pain, his arms tightened around her and she felt the hard ridge of his arousal lengthen beneath the zipper wedged against the heart of her.
Thud, thud, thud. “DEA. Open up.”
Taelon rolled them both so her back was to the door. Though she had initiated the kiss, he swiftly took control and became the aggressor. Inserting a knee between hers, he slid a hand down her side, under the blankets, tucked it beneath her thigh, and drew her knee up over his hip.
Her nipples tightened, teased by his warm skin and the brush of the stubble on his chest. Releasing her knee, he slid his hand back up her side until his thumb brushed her breast. She moaned, forgetting everything but his warm hand and the thumb slipping toward the taut peak.
“Don’t kick it in!” a man blurted outside. “I have a key, damn it. Just let me open it.”
Lisa barely heard him. Her body was on fire, humming with desire more intense than anything she had experienced before. Was it the pregnancy hormones? Was that what drove her to squirm and grind against him?
He groaned, a deep guttural sound that turned her on even more.
Bright light flooded the room as a cold breeze swept over her bare back.
Both hit her like a bucket of ice.
“DE…A,” a man called, his voice trailing off.
Lisa didn’t have to feign a shriek as she released Taelon and scrambled to grab the covers.
Taelon beat her to it. Rising onto one elbow, he yanked the blankets up to her chin and growled, “Who the hell are you? Get the fuck out!”
“DEA,” a man repeated. “I’m Agent Walker. We need to ask you a few questions. What are you two doing here?”
“What the hell do you think we’re doing?” Taelon shot back, his voice full of fury. “You got a fucking eyeful when you barged in.”
Lisa blinked as she shoved her disheveled hair out of her face. She didn’t think she had heard Taelon curse once in the short time she’d known him. Now he was dropping f-bombs like a native Earthling.
“Why didn’t you answer when we knocked?” the man in charge demanded.
“We were busy,” Taelon snapped.
“I informed you we’re DEA.”
“And that does
n’t mean dick to me.”
Lisa almost laughed. Careful to keep her breasts covered, she rolled onto her back and glanced toward the door. Four men stood just inside it. All resembled the soldiers in black from the previous night. All bore semiautomatic rifles or handguns. All stared at her while a fifth man wearing a worn plaid shirt jumped up and down behind them, trying to get a look.
Her cheeks heated. “We thought it was the TV. When you knocked, we… uh, were distracted and thought it was the TV.”
Taelon wrapped a protective arm around her and glowered.
Agent Walker—a man with short, dark blond hair and bright blue eyes—studied them. “We’re following up on a lead. I’m going to ask you again. What are the two of you doing here?”
“Taking a vacation,” she said before Taelon could snarl at him again.
“The only car in the parking lot is a Humvee. Is that yours?”
“No. It was there when we checked in last night.”
“Where’s your car?”
“At home. A Forward Mover brought us.”
“Forward Mover?”
“Yeah. It’s like Uber.”
“Why didn’t you drive yourselves?”
“None of your fucking business,” Taelon growled.
Lisa patted his chest. “May we see some identification? You guys just burst in here with weapons and started yelling. We don’t know you from Adam, so I really don’t feel comfortable answering your questions.”
The man grabbed the badge hanging on a chain around his neck and held it up.
Lisa met his gaze. “How do we know you didn’t buy that online?”
Sighing, he released his rifle, letting it hang from a shoulder strap, and reached into a back pocket. Drawing out what appeared to be a flat wallet, he opened it and held it up for her. The ID looked official and bore his image, but she still silently called bullshit. Not one of them wore jackets with DEA boldly emblazoned upon them the way she’d seen in the news.
The man returned it to his back pocket. “Why didn’t you drive yourselves here?” he asked, casually reclaiming his weapon without aiming it at them.
“The whole purpose of coming here was to reduce stress. Fighting traffic would’ve been counterproductive,” she improvised.
The Lasaran (Aldebarian Alliance Book 1) Page 10