Mated to the Alien Beast: A Sci-Fi Alien Romance (Fated Mates of Adonia Book 1)

by Ivy Sparks

  “Aaron is so cute,” said one of her friends. Kristen was it? Or maybe Susan?

  “Ugh, really,” came Lyra’s reply.

  “Yeah, he has that whole cool thing going on.”

  Lyra scoffed. “Which is completely annoying. Why would you want to be with someone who is so full of himself?”

  “I agree,” her other friend said. I was definitely sure it was Susan this time. Susan with the neon blue streaks in her hair. Must be nice to be able to afford that… “I think Alex is by far the hottest of our class.”

  “Eww,” Lyra said, then she and Kristen burst into a fit of high-pitched giggles. I let the hover ball fall and groaned, grabbing my pillow and covering my head with it while I rolled over. “How can you like Alex? He’s so nerdy.”

  “He’s sweet.”

  “Sweet isn’t everything,” Kristen said.

  “It’s better than cool. At least he will take me out on romantic dates.”

  “If he ever gets the nerve to ask you out,” Lyra said.

  I sighed and stood up, sitting down at the vanity covered in wrenches, bolts, and wires. I needed to do something. I picked up a screwdriver and grabbed the hover ball, planning to dissect it for parts. I paused, remembering his sapphire eyes gazing back at me, feeling his hands roaming over my body. His lips on my neck, sucking lightly.

  I put the wrench down and ran my hands through my hair.

  I left Vorian without saying goodbye. I scoffed when he said he loved me. I remembered the way it felt to have his hand in mine, how he held me gently. He was sweet and kind. Handsome and cool.

  And I treated him like he was another sleaze bag from Orion.

  I groaned and shook my head. Why did I miss him so much? I barely knew him. It had only been a few weeks, yet it felt like we had known each other for years.

  I stared down at the Tap. What if I told Lyra the truth? Now that I knew everything was fine, that she would be okay, could I go back to him? Could I explain everything to Lyra and would she understand? Hopefully, she wouldn’t think I was abandoning her…

  “What’s your type, Lyra?” Kristen asked.

  I turned toward the slightly ajar door. I watched my sister smile quietly to herself, stirring the pot. “I don’t really have a type. I just want someone kind, sweet, and a little bit handsome,” her friends giggled, “and someone who loves me back.”

  I leaned back in my chair and crossed my arms.

  Why was I so stupid?

  “Bye!” Lyra shouted from the door, waving to her friends while I cleaned the dishes in the sink, using bottled water sparingly while scrubbing the burnt residue from one pan. “See you tomorrow.”

  “Bye, Lyra. Bye, Ellie,” her friends called out.

  “Bye,” I hollered, scrubbing one spot over and over again. The door slid shut and I sighed, tossing the pan back into the sink, then wiping my hands on a dirtied rag.

  Lyra leaned against the door, her arms crossed. “You were quiet during dinner.”

  “I’m just tired.” I sat down at the table, resting my head in one hand. My sister moved behind me, scrubbing the stupid pan. “It’s been a long day.”

  “Were you able to find any work today?”

  I didn’t even bother looking. “No,” I said simply, not wanting to explain why I hadn’t left the apartment since I got here. She still didn’t know about me pissing off the entire mechanic crew. “I’m sure something will turn up,” I mumbled unconvincingly.

  Lyra placed her hand on my shoulder and turned me around. “Is everything okay? You seem… sad.”

  Tears wet my eyes, but I blinked them back. “I’m fine.”

  “Are you sure?”

  No. “Yes.”

  She stared at me, her eyes narrowing. “Something obviously happened. Why won’t you tell me anything?”

  I shook my head. “You wouldn’t understand.”

  “Says who?”

  “Says me. Trust me, it’s difficult to understand. I still have issues understanding.”

  “Try to explain it to me.”

  I tilted my head, wanting to pour my soul out to her, but something held me back. I saw my parents behind Lyra, arguing after Dad shared his need to escape this place, Mom saying she won’t leave her family behind. That she wouldn’t leave them here to rot while she lived in luxury elsewhere.

  He tried to explain, but she wouldn’t listen. I tried to listen, but Dad didn’t want me to hear. What was wrong with communication in our family? What was wrong with me?

  I was exactly like my father.

  I felt it replaying again and again within me. What I might say, how she might react. Me telling my sister I wanted to return to the castle, that I cared deeply for an alien, and her, crying, screaming at me, telling me not to leave her.

  “I can’t explain it,” I whispered, tears escaping that I didn’t even know were there. I was crying too much these days. It was like the wall inside me cracked and I couldn’t hold anything back anymore.

  Lyra hugged me. “You should tell me.”

  I opened my mouth. I wanted to tell her. I wanted to make her understand. I clenched my jaw, swallowing, trying to think of the best way to explain my feelings.

  There was a loud banging on our door.

  Both of us turned, watching the door. Who would come this late at night? The person banged again, stronger. I could see the fist punching into the metal, denting it. I stood, pushing my sister behind me as I took a step forward. There was another hit, making the dent bigger. I grabbed Lyra and dragged her into my room.

  “What’s going on?”

  “Shhhh!” I hid her under the bed and grabbed my wrench and blowtorch. I saw the Tap on the vanity and quickly snatched it, shoving it into my pocket before taking my place by the bedroom door.

  I waited, holding my wrench high. There was another bang before I heard a crunch and what I assumed was our front door slamming to the ground. I watched my sister under the bed, her eyes wide and afraid like a mouse caught in a trap. I pressed one finger to my lips and she nodded.

  The pots and pans clattered to the floor, and the sound of them ringing filled the air. The chair and table overturned. I heard whoever it was go into Lyra’s room, my ear pressed to the wall. This was our only chance. I ran to Lyra, grabbing her arm and dragging her from under the bed. I pressed her behind me and slowly opened the door. I stepped on the balls of my feet, one foot going over the table, the door.

  Lyra’s room was open. Her vanity overturned. Her chair smashed into pieces. Her clothes were scattered on the ground. The intruder’s dark wings stuck behind him while he looked under the bed.

  I needed to lock the door so he couldn’t follow us. It wouldn’t take him long to see we had escaped. My hand was on the lock. I just needed to type in the code. I pressed my finger against the lock, deftly typing in the numbers.

  It flashed red and buzzed.

  The Adonian whirled around and, without thinking, I blew the torch, scorching his face before throwing my wrench at his head. I didn’t bother looking back. I just grabbed Lyra and ran, the echoes of the Adonian’s roar ringing out behind us.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Ellie

  “What’s happening?” Lyra shouted, holding onto my hand tightly while I dragged her behind me. She was too slow. She needed to run faster. I could still hear the intruder, roaring loud. The lights in the hallway were a dim red glow, telling all it was night time.

  I heard something rattling behind us. He was following. I turned left, grabbing the Tap in my pocket and pressing the button. We needed to get out of here. He would find us eventually. There were only so many places to hide on the Orion.

  “Ellie, what’s going on?” Lyra sobbed.

  I looked back. I could see his shadow in the distance. “Just keep running,” I hissed.

  “I can’t.” She slowed and I held tighter.

  “You have to.” I pulled her until she was running in front of me. “And stay quiet.” I stared down at the Ta
p, which now flashed green. I didn’t know if Vorian saw it, if he was on his way, but I had to believe he would come. I needed to believe.

  I wrapped my arm around my sister and urged her to turn right, toward the airlock. The exit. The entrance. To safety. I closed my eyes, knowing what it would mean, but it was the only way to save Lyra. If we made it to the airlock, she would only have less than an hour before the atmospheric sickness killed her.

  Vorian needed to be there.

  “Where are we going?”

  “The airlock.”

  “What?” Lyra shouted, looking back. “Why?”

  “Just trust me.”

  The footsteps behind us were getting louder. He was gaining on us. I turned left, the neon lights on the floor pointing us in the right direction. We were nearly there.

  But then what?

  What if Vorian wasn’t there and the Adonian caught up to us?

  I stopped, pulling Lyra back to me. Her hands were on her knees and she gasped for breath, coughing. “I don’t know if I can go any farther.”

  My hands were on either side of her face and I shook her. “Listen to me,” I said. “With or without me, you go to the airlock and you get out of here.”

  “But—”

  “But nothing. There will be someone there to take care of you.” I hoped, but I couldn’t think like that. I needed to believe. “If I’m not out five minutes after you, then leave.”

  “But—”

  “If you don’t leave then you’ll die and never make it to Artemis.” I shook her. “Promise me you will live.”

  “Ellie,” she sobbed, tears pouring down her cheeks. “What is going on?”

  “Promise me.”

  She sniffed, biting her lip, then reluctantly nodded. I pushed her forward. He was nearly upon us. I turned right.

  There was another way to the airlock, a longer path that would buy me time in case Vorian was still a ways off. I would have to go through the auxiliary rooms, but it didn’t matter. I knew those rooms like the back of my hand, having spent my life there helping my father fix up the dozers and then spending my adulthood there before I was fired.

  As soon as I was inside, I headed straight for a dozer, jerking open the door and typing the passcode into the padlock. It turned green and the dozer hummed on just as the Adonian entered the room.

  Dozers were sturdy vehicles, built for outside work, or compacting trash inside the Orion. And I had a piece of trash in mind to crush…

  The Adonian’s face was hidden, but I knew it was a male. His tall, large frame took up most of the space in the entrance to the rooms. He crouched low, as if to pounce, and that was when I slammed my foot on the pedal and sped forward, slamming him into the wall behind him.

  He roared, his claws scratching at the dozer, but he was stuck. I didn’t wait. I slammed open the door and ran as fast as I could for the airlock. I made it there in two minutes, typing in the code, hearing it buzz and flash red. My stupid fucking fingers kept hitting the wrong numbers. I cursed myself, typing in the code one last time, sighing when it flashed green, the doors taking their sweet time opening.

  The area was empty and I hoped, while I waited for the room to decompress, that my sister made it out and that she was safe with Vorian. I continued pressing the release button, looking behind me to see if the Adonian followed. There were clanging sounds, claws scraping against metal, but I didn’t hear any footsteps.

  Where was the officer? I looked around the room, finding his station empty. Who was in charge tonight? In fact, why hadn’t a single guard on the Orion come out to see what all the commotion was about?

  My fists tightened as I thought about how easy it was to bribe officials around here. The Orion barely cared about their own people. My father was right, at least about one thing: It was pointless to stay on a base that cared so little about its own people. Eventually it would eat us alive.

  The doors opened and I ran outside. The wind around swirled, picking up dust and sand. I covered my eyes briefly, squinting into the darkness as I ran forward until I stopped, my breath catching in my throat.

  He was here.

  Vorian was here.

  He held my sister in his arms, but he was staring at me, his gaze a mixture of worry and joy. I ran toward him, looking down at my sister. “Is she okay?”

  “We need to hurry.” He grabbed me. “You will have to hold on very tightly.”

  I closed my eyes, wrapping my hands around his shoulders and burying my face into his neck. “I’m ready.”

  The wind whipped around me as he flew off into the night sky. My hands instinctively tightened around him. “How did you get here so quickly?” I shouted, keeping my eyes clamped shut. He had to have already been waiting outside to get here so soon.

  “I had a feeling the package was sent to get you away from me.”

  “Really?” I opened one eye, and immediately regretted it. The ground was too far away. I clambered closer to him.

  “I’ve been patrolling the area since you left, but possibly he’s been on the Orion longer than just a few days. He was just waiting until the right moment before he made his move.”

  I stared at Vorian. A warm, fuzzy feeling formed inside me. “You’ve been patrolling the area for three days?” His hair blew in the wind. His cheeks were slightly pinked from the chilly air. The stars twinkled behind him and for a moment I allowed myself to feel something I wouldn’t allow myself to ever admit.

  “I have.”

  I nuzzled his cheek and he glanced at me, his lips lifting into a smile. “Thank you,” I said, pressing my lips against his.

  His tongue darted inside to dance with mine, but I pulled away, too concerned he would drop either me or my sister if I distracted him too much from flying.

  My sister groaned, her hand flopping to the side. “We need to hurry,” Vorian said, his wings flapping and surging us forward.

  Zoe was waiting for us on the balcony of my bedroom with Dravak, this time prepared to administer the medicine with a bed and IV already waiting for Lyra. Vorian gently placed her down and Dravak gave her a shot before poking her with the IV.

  “Will she be okay?” I asked, Dravak quickly wheeling her away toward the lab. He only let out an affirmative grunt, too focused on helping my sister.

  Zoe threw her hands around me, speaking in Adonian. When I didn’t understand her, we both realized I didn’t have my translator earpiece on. She scurried away, got it off my dresser, then returned to me, putting it over my ear. “I was so worried,” she said into my neck. “I didn’t know if you were ever coming back.”

  I smiled and patted Zoe’s back. “I’m home,” I said, and Zoe pulled away, her eyes brimming with tears.

  “Really?” she asked, wiping her eyes. She smiled and wrapped her arm around me, pulling me into the mansion. “Would you like me to make something nice for you?”

  “I’m not hungry,” I said, watching my sister being pushed into the elevator. “I want to go with—”

  A hand was placed on my shoulder and I turned, seeing Vorian. “I will stay with your sister. Go rest.”

  “But—”

  “I promise she will survive, Ellie.”

  Whatever I was about to say disappeared from my lips. He came for me. He was there when I called. He ensured my survival when I first left the Orion, and had done so ever since. I nodded and watched him leave.

  Vorian would keep his word.

  Vorian

  I stared at Ellie’s sister, now in the vat. She would be okay. Her body was so thin, waif-like. Zoe would love to fatten her up as soon as she left the vat. Just like Ellie. Her readings seemed fine. Other than being too thin, she was otherwise healthy. Everything would be fine.

  “I’m home,” Ellie had said when she arrived. She thought of this place as home. Despite my attempts to ignore those words, I couldn’t help the smile they brought. The memory of her lips, gentle and quick when we were flying home.

  It had been a while since I fel
t this happy. Actually, it was difficult placing a time when I felt this weightless, as if I could fly for hours, fast and high in the sky. I felt invincible.

  There had been a moment where I thought all was lost. I remembered seeing the Tap flash in my hand, remembered soaring around back to the entrance, landing and pressing the padlock over and over again.

  What had happened on the Orion? There wasn’t a guard at the door where there should have been one. The Adonian could have killed the officer on duty when he entered, or he could have been bribed. At the time, I was tempted to rip the tin box open just to be able to see Ellie again.

  And then her sister stumbled out, falling to her knees. Her eyes were wide in shock, her hands clutched at her chest. I remembered running toward her, at first thinking it was Ellie, before realizing it was her sister. She stared up at me.

  “Please help,” she cried. “My sister is still in there.” And then her eyes closed, the atmospheric sickness already taking over. In that time the airlock had closed again, so I had no way of slipping in.

  I remembered waiting. Unable to breathe. Unable to do much of anything in those few minutes, wondering if he caught her, if his claws had sunk into her flesh, if his teeth were ripping her apart, her blood pooling on the metal floor. Alone.

  A hand touched my arm and I returned to the present, jerking my head to the creature beside me. My body instantly relaxed upon seeing Ellie standing next to me, her eyes on her sister.

  “How is she?”

  I cleared my throat. “She will live.” I moved to the computer and turned the screen, showing her the stats. “Her readings are fine.”

  Ellie sighed. “Perfect.”

  I leaned against the table and shoved my hands into my pockets. “Are you… fine?”

  Ellie shook her head. “No, I’m not.” She turned to me, my heart melting upon seeing her tears. She wrapped her arms around me and buried her face in my chest, sniffling. I slowly placed my arms around her, enjoying the beauty of her warmth, the scent of her enveloping me.

  This was right. The animal instincts in me fought to take over, to kiss her, to hold her, to take her tears and make her mine. I pushed the instincts down, closing my eyes and enjoying her once again being in my arms. I hadn’t known if this would happen again, if she would return. I still didn’t know if she would stay.