by Lea Linnett
“What are you doing?!” he said, his voice ragged. “Why did you run?”
“Why do you think I ran?” she yelled over the sound of her own pulse. “I’m a prisoner on my own planet, kept by aliens who’ve yelled at me, attacked me—”
“I am trying to protect you,” he said fiercely, and his pupils were larger even than hers as he stared down at her.
“You’re studying me. You said it yourself. You’re just gaining my trust so you can get what you want.”
Marek flinched. “And you do no different. You gain my trust so that you may run. So that I will help you run.” His lips slammed shut, his angry expression crumbling. “And I find that I want to.”
Bree froze, staring up at him in shock. Silence stretched between them, broken only by the call of a bird somewhere in the distance.
“…You want me to go free?” she asked, her voice small.
Marek’s brow pinched. “Of course I do. You do not belong here. You do not deserve Urek and Peris’ mistreatment. I want you to return to your people, but…” He searched her face, his gaze dropping to her lips. “But I admit, I do not want you to leave.”
They stared at each other, their breath misting the air between them, and suddenly, Marek’s face seemed very close. Bree felt that strange sensation of gravity again, drawing them together.
She gasped as Marek’s mouth found hers, the shock of it rippling throughout her body. His lips were cool, and a piece of errant snow that clung to the corner of his mouth melted against Bree’s skin, but she barely noticed, enraptured by the softness of his lips as he kissed her. Marek wasn’t hesitant like she’d expected him to be, but he was gentle, caressing her with a tenderness that made her belly flutter.
That all changed when Bree wrenched her wrists from his grip and wrapped her arms around him, pulling him against her. The levekk groaned, his lips parting, and Bree deepened the kiss, giving into the sensation as he took control.
Marek’s kiss was as intense as his stare, his flat, textured tongue exploring every inch of her. There were differences between them: the feel of their tongues, the shape and size of their teeth, but all Bree cared about was the warm press of his body against hers, and the energy crackling between them. She hadn’t realized how much she desired this kind of closeness, even before she was trapped here in this alien world, and that desire had her hooking a leg over Marek’s hip, anchoring him to her.
“Bree,” he gasped as he broke the kiss, pressing his scaled forehead against her own. It was a curious sensation, but Bree didn’t mind it. “We cannot…”
His hands cradled her face, and though the gloves were warm, she wished that they were touching skin-to-skin.
“I know,” she whispered, trailing her fingers down over his chest, and Marek shuddered.
They crashed together again, both ignoring the words, and somehow this kiss was even deeper than the first. They were quiet, barely making a sound, but in the silence of the snowy cage, their shared breaths seemed all the louder. It was impossibly intimate, a scintillating mix of hot and cold as the snow pressed in around their artificially heated bodies, and eventually, that heat began to pool deep in Bree’s core. At the same time, Marek’s cock hardened against her hip, and she wondered if it was human or alien, familiar or terrifying.
She then realized that she didn’t care. It was a part of Marek, and he was the one awakening desires in her that she hadn’t felt in years. Her breath stuttering, she clutched him closer, rubbing their bodies together and pulling a tortured groan from his lips.
A whimper escaped her as he pulled away, and then he growled, in a voice more deep and rasping than she’d ever heard before, “Not here.”
She looked around. They’d sunk a few inches into the snow, their heatsuits melting everything into an icy puddle beneath her, and she laughed. “I didn’t even realize.”
He gazed down at her, his expression soft, but they both froze as the door to the mine rattled loudly, followed by the frustrated clunk of metal on metal.
Someone was looking for them. They were hidden from view, sequestered behind a large snowdrift that rose up like a mountain beside them, so they would not be seen even if their pursuers forced their way through the lock. But they would still have to think fast.
“I twisted my ankle,” Bree said, gripping Marek’s shoulder. “You came to help me.”
But Marek remained silent. He looked at her with a tortured expression, his hand fisting in her hair, and then he sighed. “There’s still time.”
She stared at him, not sure she comprehended, and then his comfortable weight vanished as he rose to his knees in the snow. “Marek?”
He extended a hand, his eyes bright. “I will keep the door barred while you cross to the ridge. But you must go now.”
Bree’s stomach turned bottomless, a dark cavity that spread to her chest as her mind reeled. “But what about you? They’ll know you helped me!”
“Do not worry about me. It is wrong for me to keep you here, even if I…” He faltered, taking her hand and hauling her up to a sitting position. “You must hurry.”
“I don’t—”
Bang!
Both of them whipped around as the door was wrenched open manually, emitting a horrific groan. Then, Peris’ voice rang out across the sehela pen in Levekk, sharp and frustrated, and Bree’s heart sank.
“I will distract them,” Marek whispered, his hand tightening on hers, but she shook her head.
“No. I can’t…”
Can’t what? Her mind screamed at her to go, but her body wouldn’t budge. She met his gaze, hating the sadness she saw there.
“Help me up,” she ordered. “I’ll make the injury look convincing.”
His brow furrowed and his mouth twisted, but he helped her to her feet, taking her weight as he would an injured person. They stepped out into view like this, right into Peris’ cutting gaze, but Bree barely felt it, too distracted by her own thoughts. It was all she could do to wince and act as if she were in pain as Marek and Peris argued back and forth in their language.
Every step away from freedom was a blow to the gut, and she didn’t have to pretend when she doubled over, holding back a sob. Then, Marek’s hand settled on her waist and squeezed.
“I will keep you safe,” he whispered, too soft for Peris to hear. Bree shivered as the words ghosted against her neck, and she found herself believing them.
They were three feet from the entrance when the first alarm sounded.
Bree froze, tensed for an attack, and almost forgot that she was supposed to be injured until Marek pulled her more fully against his side.
“Kikkehr ka?” Peris snapped to one of her security team, who pressed a claw to his earpiece.
He replied in rushed tones, prompting Peris to bark an order back to the levekk escorting them and disappear through the door ahead. Bree prodded Marek to get his attention. “What’s going on?” she murmured over the alarm, which echoed in a low, keening moan from the depths of the building.
“Signs of an intruder on the east side,” Marek said, his brow furrowed. “But that could only be…”
Bree’s heart jumped into her throat. A human? What else could it be, unless another alien civilization was hiding somewhere down the mountain?
They shared a look of confusion, and then their escort stepped up, ushering them back into the building too fast for Bree’s liking. She looked back as the door shut behind them and the hellish alarms reverberated around her, just in time to see her last glimpse of freedom snuff out like a candle.
Then, there was nothing but the dark and the noise and the solid press of Marek’s body against her own.
16
Bree could’ve torn her hair out in the hours she was kept from Marek. She was deposited in her room with a small pile of medical supplies that she ignored, and then she was left alone with nothing but the taunting view from her window while the alarms blared overhead.
Was Marek all right? Somehow, that was the
foremost question on her mind. He’d gone against Urek’s orders to take her outside, and he’d been involved in her fight with Peris. That alone could be enough to land him in hot water, and if they found out that she’d tried to run?
She shuddered. Marek had… let her go. He had told her to go. The thought barely made sense to her, and she’d just lived through it. Marek’s future rested upon her captivity, and he’d almost thrown it away, and why? Why would he risk everything for her like that?
I do not want you to leave.
The words reverberated around her skull as she fitfully tried to sleep. Not, I can’t allow you to leave. Not, You must stay.
Bree touched her lips in the half-dark that her room reached in the middle of the night, imagining that she could still feel the soft press of his lips there. She remembered the strength of his arms and his gentle touch as he cradled her face, the hard press of his cock against her hip. She remembered how much she’d wanted it, even with the snow rapidly melting around their heated bodies.
Then, she remembered the panic she’d felt when he told her to go, when she’d finally glimpsed freedom after all this time. Her plan had worked; Marek had finally, finally given her a chance to escape, and what had she done?
She’d squandered it. She wasn’t supposed to care about Marek. He was supposed to be a tool she would use to get out of here, by any means necessary. And yet, at the thought of the punishment he might face for helping her, fear had shot through Bree’s chest. Somewhere along the line, she’d lost sight of her goal. She’d started to care.
And he might still be punished, despite her change of heart.
The alarms had stopped long before sunset, but Bree didn’t sleep more than an hour. She was up before the lights in her room brightened and the horizon turned pink with dawn, and she struggled to force down the tasteless nutrient block that was delivered by her new, all-hours levekk guard.
So when the door to her room slid back mid-morning, Bree waited with her hackles raised, ready for anything.
All the air left her lungs when Marek appeared in the doorway, and she rushed forward without thinking, touching his broad chest as if to make sure he was actually real. “You’re all right,” she breathed. “Where’s the guard? And Peris?”
“Peris hunts for the intruder,” Marek said, his voice a low, calming rumble as he gently took her by the shoulders. His lips quirked, drawing Bree’s eye and bringing the kiss zooming back to the forefront of her mind. “The guard was… easy to distract, with some help.”
“I wasn’t sure I’d see you today, after Peris brought all those guards to find us.”
“We must thank the intruder for stealing Urek’s focus. Yesterday, he searched the upper levels. Today, he tears apart the sub-species’ quarters downstairs.”
“I hope they’re okay—the sub-species, I mean.”
“They will be fine,” he assured her.
She looked up at him, struck by how natural it felt to be cradled in his arms like this. Her hand still rested on his chest, the skin tingling as the hybrid’s heart beat just a little too fast against her palm.
“You are all right? After yesterday…” Marek’s brow furrowed, his hold on her shoulders tightening. “You did not run when I asked.”
Bree swallowed. She’d been trying not to think about that. Her heart ached at the memory of the door closing on her freedom, and yet…
Part of her knew she couldn’t have made any other choice.
“I’m all right,” she whispered, resting her head against Marek’s hard chest.
She felt the words more than she heard them as Marek said, “I am sorry. I should not have stopped you. I—”
“No.” She looked up, her chest squeezing at the guilt in his eye. “In the end, it was my choice. I… couldn’t leave knowing what might happen to you if I went and they knew you’d helped me.”
Bree didn’t realize the words were true until she’d said them aloud. I couldn’t leave. A part of her—the part that had been raised with the levekk as her enemies—still tried to insist that it was ridiculous, but she shut it down. Levekk or not, hybrid or not, Marek wasn’t the same as Urek or Peris. He was as trapped by their circumstances as she was, and she couldn’t subject him to the consequences of her escape. Not when he’d been ready to throw everything he’d worked for away.
Her heart hammered in her chest as he stared down at her, shock softening his features. Time slowed as he captured her lips in a scorching kiss, and yet still it ended too soon. Marek pulled away, his breaths short, and looked out into the hallway through the still-open door.
“Is someone coming?” Bree asked, alert again, but Marek shook his head.
“Not yet, but soon. I…” He licked his lips, gazing down at her. “I hoped I might show you my office.”
It took a moment for Bree to catch up with the words, a bark of laughter flying from her lips. “You have an office?”
Marek smiled lopsidedly. “It is what I call it, but I do not know if it qualifies. Maybe you will tell me?”
“You think I know anything about offices? I’ve only ever been inside one when I was getting chewed out over something,” she said, her eyebrows shooting up.
“Chewed out?”
Bree blinked. “Uh, when you’re being reprimanded by a superior,” she translated sheepishly, and Marek smiled.
“Ah. Then I know this well.” His smile faded slightly, his thumb brushing her arm in a way that made her skin prickle. “You wish to see it?”
A flash of what looked like nervousness crossed his face, and Bree’s heart skipped. “I’d love to.”
They moved quickly through the unusually empty corridors. With the searches happening underground, the upstairs sub-species activity had been reduced to a skeleton crew, who seemed content to ignore them. But even the levekk were scarce, and they only crossed paths with one—a scientist who rushed along an adjacent corridor without seeing them, whispering fiercely into an earpiece and wearing a panicked expression.
“What was that about?” Bree asked when Marek frowned after him.
“I do not know. His words were… confusing.” Marek’s eyes narrowed, but then he seemed to shake it off, his hand finding Bree’s elbow. “Come, we should not linger.”
He led her to a featureless door halfway down a corridor that she’d never set foot in before. It had no markings to differentiate it, but when Marek opened it, a soft, orange glow emanated from inside.
Bree stepped through and was met by a wall of warmth that made her glad she’d opted again for the thin bodysuit rather than her leathers. But she soon forgot about the heat as she looked around the small space, her jaw dropping.
It was less an office and more a closet. Longer than it was narrow, the room was dominated by a simple cot that ran along the right-hand wall. The heat emanated from a glowing, orange lamp sitting atop the desk at the back, and tucked against the left-hand wall were a series of large, metal boxes with flashing lights. Overall, it appeared to be half the size of Bree’s own room, with no window to open up the space, and she suddenly felt embarrassed for ever finding her quarters claustrophobic.
“This is it?” she asked. “You work in here?”
Marek shifted uncomfortably behind her. “Since you arrived, yes. Before, I only saw it when Urek needed my help upstairs. It is not much, I know—”
“No!” Bree said, spinning around to face him. “I like it. It feels… lived in. Not like the rest of this place.” She glanced at the cot. “You sleep here?”
“Yes. As sub-species, it is not proper for me to sleep upstairs, but…”
Bree stepped toward the glowing lamp on the desk as he trailed off, her dark brows drawn together. Heat rolled off it as if it were on fire, and the bulb was far larger and rounder than the recessed strips she was used to seeing around the place. “What’s this for?”
“It is a heat lamp. Levekk are cold-blooded, but the heat stimulates us. It improves productivity.”
“Huh. I
usually need the opposite. I couldn’t tell you how many times I’ve had to wake myself up with a face-full of snow while watching the mine,” she joked, glancing up at him.
He was closer now, his broad frame filling the narrow room and making it seem even tinier. Bree’s breath caught as he reached up and tucked a lock of her wavy hair behind her ear, her skin prickling with awareness.
This might have been the first time they’d been alone together. Really, truly alone. Before, Peris always hovered outside, or they were threatened by the specter of Urek crashing down on them for daring to deviate from his orders. But now, no one knew they were here, and with everyone distracted by the intruder, they probably weren’t looking for them very hard, either.
Marek’s thumb brushed her cheek, and he licked his lips nervously. “I… wish to show you my work, if you like.”
The murmured words surprised her, but they didn’t feel like a rejection. Marek still held her, his eyes soft and the pupils round and fat with satisfaction. “Of course,” she said. He smiled, leaning past her to pick up a thin, black device from a stack of them on the table. “What is that?”
“It is a datapad. Much of the data I have collected is stored inside them.”
“Data?” she repeated. “Is that another ancient word I’m supposed to know?”
He smiled sheepishly. “It is just another word for information. Books, audio recordings, old vids. I have read and watched and listened to too many human creations to count.”
“And all of that fits inside this datapad?” Bree asked, peering down at it, and Marek laughed.
“I will show you. Sit?”
He gestured toward the cot, taking the desk chair for himself, and handed her the datapad once she was settled. Except, now it looked different. The black surface had lit up, and displayed upon it was an image of black text on white paper—a book, like the ones her elders kept in the village library. It almost looked as if she could reach inside and pull it out, and she brushed the image with her fingertips, flinching back when the pages were replaced with new ones. “Woah.”