by Sam Crescent
“This is so sudden. You never mentioned any of this before. When do you plan on doing this?”
“Now.”
“Now?” She followed him around the house as he pulled bags down from his cupboards. The sense of urgency wasn’t lost on her.
Tears pricked her eyes. It didn’t help that her hormones were already out of whack. She grabbed his forearm, forcing him to make eye contact with her. “You’re scaring me, Dhiro. Please talk to me.”
He stopped rummaging and cupped her face. “I won’t give you up. Every day we wait here puts you more at risk.”
“For what? A Scyathra attack?”
He exhaled. “It’s more complicated. My leaders are not in agreement when it comes to having an Earthling on Trenu Zel. It’s only a matter of time until they insist you leave. I won’t wait for that day.”
“But they’ve been so accepting. What did I do wrong?”
“Don’t blame yourself. I told you our mating is for life. I will never abandon you.”
This was such a shock. She felt sick. He’d been worried about her accepting her new fate, and now she was the unwanted one on the planet. Dhiro shouldn’t have to uproot himself because of her. It wasn’t fair. She had nothing on Earth to even go back to. Where would they live? How would she explain any of this? If the government back home caught wind of Dhiro being an alien, they’d have him locked in a high-security lab for the rest of his life.
He was so intense, so she didn’t bother arguing. Ella packed her bags, including many of her samples. Her research was far from done. They were out in his vehicle soon after, without a single goodbye to anyone in the neighborhood. The landscape passed by in a rush, and neither of them said a word during the drive. She was still in disbelief.
Dhiro took out his communicator. “Bronn. I’m returning to Earth with Ella. Tell Mother I am sorry for failing her. Take care of her and Kaalen.”
She could hear his brother getting loud on occasion on the other end of the line but couldn’t hear what he was saying. She imagined his family didn’t want to lose him, to never see him again because of her.
“Is my ship in the same dock?” Dhiro asked.
A while later, they approached a huge military-type compound. Instead of aircraft, there were spaceships. Dhiro parked the truck, then came around to her side. He took her bag, flinging it over his shoulder. “Keep close. Say nothing. I do not want to rouse attention.”
“Are we not supposed to be here?”
“Let’s go, Ella.”
He tugged her along, entering one gate, then another. She noted he had one hand on his weapon.
Dhiro stopped for a moment, letting her catch her breath. “I love you, Ella.” He kissed her hard on the mouth. “I’d return to Earth a thousand times if it meant finding you. Never forget that.”
“Why do we have to leave?”
He kissed her again, cupping her ass as he pulled her close. Even under the stressful circumstances, she felt herself falling under his spell.
They continued down some grated metal stairs, then around a few corners. She was growing tired of moving so quickly. As they traversed the base, she realized Dhiro really did love her. He was giving up absolutely everything for her sake. Ella never expected to find true love—even with a human man.
They came to an abrupt halt, and she crashed into Dhiro’s side. “What’s wrong?”
When she peered around him, there were several uniformed men blocking their way.
“Your ship is out of commission. You have not been approved for travel.”
Dhiro walked backward, his arm to the side as a shield. She felt the tension thick and heavy.
“You had no right to touch my ship. My father built that ship.”
“Where are you taking the human?”
“I am not taking her anywhere,” he said. “Who gave your orders?”
“The commander wants to see you both.”
He leaned down and whispered in her ear. “Run down two levels to section C5. You’ll find a male named Kaalen. Tell him what happened here. Go now!”
Panic flooded her system, but she did as told, running away from the man she loved and those armed men. She held the handrail of the stairs, moving as fast as she could. Ella scanned for the C5 as she ran, gasping for breath as she went. She heard banging above her and worried about Dhiro. Would they kill him? Incarcerate him?
Then she noticed C3, then C5. She stopped, struggling for air. As she turned the corner, a large, muscular man in a grease-covered tank top noticed her enter. He looked remarkably similar to Dhiro.
“I’m looking for a male. His name’s Kaalen.”
“I am Kaalen.” Just then, his communicator sounded and he brought it to his ear. His brow furrowed as he listened. Within a minute, he tucked it away. “My brother will meet us here. Until then, I must hide you,” he said.
“Who are you?”
“I am the brother of Dhiro and Bronn.”
She’d never met his brothers, only his mother. He kept saying they would meet at their official mating ceremony, which was yet to happen.
Kaalen pointed to a heavy metal hatch, urging her to enter. She hated closed spaces but did as told.
“What if they hurt Dhiro?”
Ella hated that all this was happening because of her. The last thing she wanted to do was get Dhiro into trouble. Now his family was forced to get involved, too.
“Dhiro is the eldest. He is capable of taking care of himself.” He closed the hatch behind her.
Ella stayed locked in the hatch for what felt like days. She became sweaty and her muscles cramped. Her desperation for fresh air became overpowering. Still, she refused to make a noise. They wouldn’t leave her here, would they? After what must have been over an hour, everything around her jostled. The deafening sound of metal on metal made her cover her ears. It felt like the entire hangar was unhinged. There were muffled voices she couldn’t make out. Had the uniformed men found her? Should she call for help?
She tried to brace herself as the building shifted again, knocking her to her back. The air grew even thinner, and a deep desire to sleep overtook her. Maybe all of this had been a dream. Maybe she’d awake on Earth and realize Dhiro and Trenu Zel were all a figment of her imagination.
Chapter Eight
“You did what you had to do,” Kaalen said.
Dhiro glared at his brother. “I can’t talk about this right now.” He took a step back from his brothers. Bronn and Kaalen were not supposed to be joining him. “What is going to happen to Mother now? She is going to be furious with all three of us.”
“No, Mother told me I was going to have a big adventure and that I was to follow my heart, not my loyalty,” Bronn said. “You know how cryptic Mom can be. She is always making these … predictions. I’m certain if it wasn’t for our father, they’d have committed her to one of the wards years ago. So, tell me about Earth.”
Dhiro wasn’t exactly in a talking mood. After fighting off the blockade of men, his rage hadn’t ended there. His ship, his father’s ship that had been passed down to him, had the engine completely removed.
Never in all of his years as an adult male on Trenu Zel had his privacy been so heavily invaded. They were not like the humans, and yet, that was exactly what had happened, and he was still so annoyed. Ella had been with him. She wasn’t strong like him. They could have hurt her.
“You need to calm down.”
“Do not tell me to be calm in a situation like this, Bronn. You have no idea how very screwed we are.”
He ignored his brother’s grim expression. His ship hadn’t been able to withstand the journey and impact of Earth.
His brothers’ project aircraft wasn’t exactly any better.
“I think you need to go get some sleep. You’re not going to be helpful with that negative kind of attitude.”
Dhiro didn’t argue with them. He was so angry with the whole situation. He couldn’t just sit around and pretend like nothing happened.
The ship his brothers had built was amazing, he couldn’t doubt their skill. Their father had taught each of them so many unique skills. His brothers had learned the art of crafting a ship, while he’d been taught how to repair everything.
This was one of the reasons why his failed mission was so hard to accept. He hadn’t even been given the chance to explore or change what had happened. Ella shouldn’t have had a time limit.
She deserved so much more than that.
He was exhausted as he made his way toward the back of the ship where there was a small room with a tiny bed.
His brothers clearly hadn’t thought about comfort or long voyages when they crafted this ship. They were going to need a lot more than a single sheet on a bed.
Lying down, he stared up at the ceiling.
He was never going to return to Trenu Zel. How could they have viewed Ella’s life so basically? She was more than a vessel. Yes, she was human, and from his personal experience, she was very … emotional. Not that it stopped his love of her. Far from it.
From the stilted reactions and emotions of his planet, he found Ella’s range of feelings exceedingly addictive. Even mating with her was a huge high for him. Seeing the way she let go, never holding back her feelings or emotions, giving in to the need. Even now, thinking about it, he was aroused.
He ran a hand down his face, but it didn’t matter what he did, nothing was going to rub the upset of their current predicament from his mind.
His mother had been convinced of his success with Ella. Whatever his mother predicted had come true, and now, he didn’t know what direction to take. He loved his woman and couldn’t leave her.
A life on Earth didn’t sound very appealing to him, far from it.
Get a grip, Dhiro. This is your life now.
He heard the hatch open where Kaalen had stored Ella, and he sat up listening.
“Where’s Dhiro,” Ella’s voice asked.
She sounded sad, strained.
He hadn’t taken her from the hatch as she’d looked so peaceful while she slept.
Getting to his feet, he opened the door and stepped out, but he saw the raw sadness of his mate, and he couldn’t stay away. He closed the distance between them, wrapping his arms around her.
“I’ve got you.”
She released a gasp. “Dhiro, you’re here?”
“Of course, I’m here. Where else would I go?” He pressed a kiss to her temple. “I’m always going to be here for you.” He was never going to let her go.
“I thought you were back on Trenu Zel.”
“I was never going to leave you, and I’m not going to start now.” He kissed her head again. “Where you go, I go. You’re my mate.”
“They think I’ve failed, haven’t they? Your … people.”
He cupped her cheeks and wiped away the tears that were slowly pooling in her eyes and starting to slide down her face.
“Don’t. They are not important.”
“Dhiro, don’t do this. Don’t make it sound like you’re not upset about what’s going on. I know the truth and so do you. You hate this. Don’t lie to me.”
He wanted to keep on lying to her, but the truth was, he couldn’t. “They … were going to send you back. I couldn’t let that happen.”
“But my fertility. I’m your planet’s last hope.”
“And after all this time, they had hoped to see something more, but you are not expecting. You are not pregnant.”
Ella growled. “Seriously? I haven’t been with you very long. I didn’t know I had a time limit.”
“Several moon cycles. Long enough to get pregnant.”
“Okay, fine, I admit that it is taking a little time, but that’s normal for a female. We don’t always catch at the same time. These things can take months, if not years. I was taken from my own planet, put on an alien one, where I was considered the outsider. My life took a huge change, and that can affect so much. I know a woman who took nine years to get pregnant.”
“Ella, you do not have to worry.”
She stepped back from him and shook her head. “Wow, you think the same as them, don’t you?”
“We think you two need to have a little more privacy. We are concentrating on not ruining our ship too early, and we’re navigating through a series of comets here,” Bronn said. “A little respect would go a long way.”
Dhiro took Ella’s hand, leading her away from his brothers. She didn’t fight him, but the moment he entered the make-do bedroom, she jerked her hand out of his grasp as if he’d scolded her.
“Damn it, Ella, I will never hurt you.”
“But you don’t think I’m capable of giving you children.” She glared at him, and he loved her fire. In fact, the moment he’d seen her, a surge of arousal had rushed right through him, and that hadn’t happened to him before.
When it came to Ella, he was always feeling the starting of pleasure, which was one of many reasons why he knew she was his ideal mate. He was already prepared to take her, to love her, to have her. Nothing had changed in that regard.
What was new was his erect cock. How needy he suddenly felt, but Ella looked ready to strangle him.
“Baby, I need you,” he said.
“What?”
He leaned back, loosening his slacks and easing out his length. Fuck, he was so hard. He inhaled the air as he looked at his woman, his mate. She looked so beautiful, almost glowing. “Please, come here.”
“I’m still mad at you, and I’m not going to do that while your brothers are on this ship. They could hear.”
“I don’t care about them. I care about you. Please, come here.”
She rolled her eyes, but within seconds, he had his hands on her body, removed her clothes, and moved her so that she straddled his waist.
He lined the tip of his cock against her entrance, staring into her beautiful eyes. He felt her sink down on his length. The tight heat of her cunt swallowed him whole, and he closed his eyes, basking in each sensation that drove him more closer to the edge than the first.
Dhiro held on to her hips and began to rock against her, going deeper than before.
Ella’s sweet moans filled the ship, but he didn’t care if his brothers heard or not, all he knew was that he had to have her. Nothing had ever happened to him like this. This loss of control. The need. It consumed him, and as he thrust up inside her and she took his cock so well, he came hard, filling her body, and not for a second did he want to leave the heat surrounding him.
He had no idea where it came from and never wanted it to end.
****
They crashed-landed on Earth—again.
Well, a first time for Ella, Bronn, and Kaalen. A second time for her mate.
Dhiro had been acting strangely the past couple of days. For the journey, they’d been confined to the ship, of course there was no chance to take a nice little stroll. Dhiro’s … needs were different. The way he wanted her. It was like he couldn’t help himself. As if his feelings were out of his control. He was completely out of character, but she didn’t mind at all. The first time she’d been embarrassed as his brothers were very much within hearing distance, but they hadn’t made any comment or treated her differently.
Trenu Zel men were different from human men.
“Do you know where we are?” Bronn asked, looking around.
It wasn’t the desert, so that was a plus. The spaceship had also landed in some thick forest, which meant they weren’t detected, at least she hoped. Unless there was some special force within the government looking around for alien activity.
“I don’t know where we are, but I think it’s time we kind of, you know, moved forward, perhaps.”
Her stomach chose that moment to growl. She was hungry. A craving for pancakes, scrambled eggs, and maple syrup had assailed her. She needed to eat something.
“Are you guys ready?” she asked.
Dhiro moved closer to her, grabbing her neck and hauling her against him. His lips took f
ull possession of hers, and she let out a moan as his tongue traced across her lips before plunging inside.
One of his brothers cleared their throats, and she quickly pulled away.
Dhiro merely smiled.
“So, do you want to tell us how we’re going to blend in on this planet?” Bronn asked. “I do not fancy being a science experiment.”
“Just talk normally. Don’t voice your feelings or do anything kind of deadpan,” Ella said. “We’re hikers.”
“What?” Kaalen asked.
“We’re in the forest, and wherever we come out, they are going to ask questions. We took a month-long vacation, and we’ve been traveling, enjoying the natural sights, hiking, that kind of thing.” She forced a smile to her lips, but her nerves were all over the place.
Being back on Earth, she had thought she would be thankful, happy almost. Far from it. She was terrified in case someone came to them.
Dhiro was her family. Bronn and Kaalen were his brothers and that made them family to her. The primitiveness and violence of her own race didn’t exactly go unnoticed. It was very much part of her society. When Dhiro had been telling her about his society, the rules they abided by, she had asked about what happened in such cases as rape.
He didn’t understand the word.
When he asked for a full explanation, she’d told him what it meant on her planet, well, he’d been completely and totally disgusted. Trenu Zel never experienced that. He had no living memory of a male or female experiencing it.
It had been an enlightening conversation.
They walked for several hours, or what felt like it, when they stumbled across a lake.
Dhiro moved closer, finding them some fresh water.
When they found a town, she hoped they had a pharmacy. She was starting to think Dhiro’s change of reaction was down to her being pregnant. Not only that, she’d missed her so-called moon cycle, and she never missed. Even with all the stress factors in her life, she’d been as regular as clockwork.
Apart from now.
“Bronn, can I ask you something … personal about your own species?” she asked.