by A. G. Wilde
“I am an Arois,” he repeated. “We…my people are…” He seemed to be searching for words again. “Gifted with the power of the mind.”
Was that some way of saying he was smart?
“You’re going to have to spell it out for me.”
“Psychic abilities.” The gem in his forehead swirled blue and white as he watched her.
Her eyebrows stopped their nosedive to raise high in her forehead. And, for some reason, she knew he wasn’t joking.
“You were thrown into my cell,” he continued. “I was meant to be alone. For the mission.” He paused again. “Distractions make it difficult for me to focus over large distances.”
Diana blinked rapidly. He still wasn’t making any sense—or maybe she was refusing to believe what he was trying to say.
“Go on…” She could almost feel the hardness creeping into her voice.
He blinked at her again and she could see the gem in his forehead swirling with more colors. He was thinking about something…or sensing something. One or the other, she didn’t care. He needed to explain things—clearly.
“I meant you no harm,” he said.
There was a momentary silence in the cave, the only sound being the sandstorm wailing outside.
“Are you trying to tell me I was thrown in a cell with you for how many days and I don’t remember any of it because you…altered my perception of reality?” She frowned as she said it. It wasn’t even believable. But so many things had been unbelievable up to this point.
“Yes,” he answered so simply, it made her fume.
“You what?!”
He paused and blinked at her obvious anger. “It was best for both of us.”
Diana’s eyelids fluttered. “Just…just how did you even do that?!”
“I am an Arois,” he said again, as if that explained everything.
She could feel her anger flare and she didn’t even care to hide it. “I don’t care what you are! I want to know why I remember hardly anything at all!” Her hands balled into fists. “I certainly don’t remember you. At least, not fully and I feel like I was in that cell for days!”
“Your perception was altered.”
“You mean you altered it…” She seethed. “Just how?”
Her mind couldn’t wrap around the thought.
He blinked once and did not reply.
Instead, he moved toward her, a hand outstretched.
“What are you doing?” She stiffened, staring at his outstretched hand.
“I will show you,” he said.
They stared at each other for a few silent moments.
Then, when she didn’t resist further, he closed the distance to rest his palm against her forehead.
She was about to slap his hand away and tell him to stop playing games when she felt a pulsing in her head.
Then, her eyes fluttered closed and it happened.
She remembered...well, it was hard to explain.
It wasn’t exactly a memory. Instead, it was like watching a movie.
She saw herself being thrown into the cell. That brought a familiar feeling as if her body remembered the event but not her mind.
Then, when she’d turned around, there’d been him. Yce.
He’d been standing in the cell.
She saw him regard her for a bit as she had crouched into a stance to defend herself should he attack.
But he hadn’t. He hadn’t needed to.
Instead, she watched as the energy left her bones and she went limp on the floor, as if asleep.
He’d walked over to her then, lifted her, and brought her to rest on some kind of slab that was in the corner of the room.
The scene seemed to speed up then, but she saw herself, living as if in a trance, doing the motions but not really being there.
She’d used the dent in the floor they called a toilet, she’d eaten, she’d slept, she’d wept...
The only thing was, she didn’t remember any of it.
Not one bit.
As the pressure on her forehead subsided and she felt him move away from her, Diana squeezed her eyes shut. It all made sense yet it was so hard to believe. But at least it explained why she felt as if she had been around him for some time before. She’d always trusted her gut and her gut told her he was telling the truth.
“You have powers that can do that?” she asked, finally opening her eyes to stare at him. She could feel the rage building inside and when it finally spilled over, she knew she wasn’t going to hide it.
“Yes,” he answered. “It is a power inherent to my kind. All Arois can.”
She didn’t give a shit if all Arois could. Just because you could do something didn’t mean that you should do it.
“You know what you did was to essentially drug me, right?!” she said through gritted teeth.
“Drug?” He looked surprised.
“You altered my mind. Went in my head without my permission!”
That seemed to silence him and he just stared at her, his gem pulsing as he regarded her.
She felt absolutely violated.
To think that full days of her life had been taken away from her without her permission, it brought a wave of anger she thought she had buried a long time ago.
She didn’t like losing control. She hated it. Absolutely hated it! It brought back memories—memories of a stepfather that had used his degree in psychology to mess with a young, defenseless girl. Memories of a man who had come into her room every night. Memories of being too afraid to tell anyone because of all the scary repercussions he had instilled in her mind.
She had vowed to never let anyone get in her head the way he had. And yet, it had happened when she had least expected and in the most unexpected of ways.
Her stepfather was the reason she had eventually found her strength. He was the reason she had a black belt. He was the reason she did kick-boxing. He was the reason she did jiu-jitsu.
It had taken years to heal. Grueling years and many failed relationships as a result.
But she’d finally found herself and security in the fact that she could feel secure in being in control. At twenty-seven years old, she was her own woman.
Diana O’Neal was no one’s pushover.
It was her life. Her mind.
But now, this alien had been in her head, in her domain, and she had been completely unaware of it!
“Don’t you ever, EVER, do that again,” she spoke through gritted teeth, sure the anger was represented all across her face, as she clenched her fists.
The cave suddenly felt cold as a chill passed through the air.
At that moment, she could only feel one emotion.
Maybe it was the fact that she’d been taken away from her home by aliens and he was an alien too. It was like these aliens just thought they could do whatever they wanted.
Hate.
Hate was what she felt.
She’d felt it on the ship as she’d watched the Tasqals attack and it was back again.
But now the hate was directed at him.
She hated him.
Chapter Six
The human was angry.
Angry at him.
But he didn’t quite understand why.
She was so angry, she had put up an ice wall in front of herself.
He could feel her mental distance. He didn’t need to enter her mind to find out what she was thinking.
Reasoning with her when she was in such a mood was futile.
He’d better not try.
He was pretty sure even opening his mouth would make things worse.
She kept her cold gaze on him as he took up his blade and began sharpening it again.
Maybe he shouldn’t have been so honest.
Maybe he should have kept his mouth shut.
He just hadn’t expected her to respond in the way that she had.
She was still seething even now, her cold blue gaze cutting into him like shards of ice.
It was anger…and hate?
>
But why? Surely humans were a reasonable species, reasonable enough to understand that without his absolute focus communicating with all the members of the Restitution, the mission would have been much riskier than it was.
He’d needed to concentrate on even the smallest of details. It wasn’t something that was easy to do, especially when another being was close by drawing his attention.
His tasks had been many.
He’d had to keep the Isclits from suspecting Xul was undercover. He’d had to bend the Isclit’s minds as well so they would take them as prisoners.
When Crex had gone berserk, he’d had to manipulate the Isclits as best as he could. He’d also had to manipulate the Hedgerud guards to let Xul back on the ship. Plus, apart from all that, he had been communicating between all members of the team, as well as Kyro, who had been on the Elysium.
There had been a lot at stake.
There hadn’t been room for him to make any mistakes.
Xul had trusted him to do it. His psionic powers allowed him to manipulate the minds of almost all beings in the universe…possibly all beings except other Arois. He had yet to find a being whose mind he couldn’t infiltrate.
After the human had been thrown in his cell, fighting like an angry shnek on a rainy day, he knew that he had to do it.
Apart from the fact that he’d have to concentrate on communicating with Xul when he was off the ship, plus Kyro on the Elysium and the other members of the Restitution on the Isclit ship, he hadn’t been prepared to deal with the distraction of the being they had unceremoniously thrown in his cell.
The decision had been easy.
Alter her reality until they left the ship.
It wouldn’t take much of his resources and would be easier than if she was aware of his presence.
But now, that same being was sitting across from him with such strong thoughts he wondered should he give her the blade he was sharpening if she would try to slice his neck with it.
He wouldn’t put it past her.
Yce’s shoulders rose and fell in a sigh.
Maybe it was for the best.
Two of his team members had already been caught in the web of this species. Human women were dangerous. Unpredictable. He didn’t know what guiles they had, but he should be careful.
Now wasn’t the time for romance or getting close to anyone.
It wouldn’t be good for either of them.
Plus, he wasn’t interested—captivating hjek-colored hair and blue eyes or not.
So her hatred was welcome.
Maybe it would make the journey easier.
Yet…for some reason, it disturbed him. Her anger towards him made him slightly uncomfortable.
And, though he was trying not to face it, something inside him didn’t want the hjek-haired human to hate him.
* * *
The sandstorm couldn’t end quickly enough. She needed to get out of this constricted place and out in the fresh air, preferably away from Big Blue but, well, she’d just have to put up with him till they get to the outpost or wherever.
What a dick, using the mission as an excuse. Maybe in his culture, it was okay to just manipulate someone else’s mind without their permission, but where she came from that was absolutely NOT okay.
Diana huffed out a breath. She’d been shooting daggers at him for so long that her head was beginning to hurt. What was more infuriating was that he hadn’t apologized. He hadn’t even faced her gaze since they’d argued. He’d just sat there, sharpening his blade, looking like some forbidden sex elf or something.
Utterly frustrating.
Raking her hands through her hair, her fingers immediately became tangled and her anger surged again fueled by annoyance.
Her hair was filled with sand. Filled with it!
Groaning in frustration, she bent her head and shook her hair. Some sand fell out but not nearly enough.
When she raised her head again, she realized he was looking at her. Narrowing her eyes at him, she cut him a look.
“What are you looking at?”
He didn’t answer.
“You aliens just feel like you rule the universe, don’t you? Do what you want. Abduct who you want. Destroy what you want. Control what and who you want.” She frowned as she pulled her gaze away from him.
Looking at him was infuriating her even more. He was expressionless, yet somehow managing to look completely innocent and non-confrontational.
Shaking her hair again, she tried to dislodge some more of the sand. If she didn’t get it out, she was sure her hair would end up clumping together.
Raking her fingers through the strands wasn’t really helping. She needed a comb and she wasn’t going to get that anywhere.
“Use this,” he said, and she cut him another look that could kill.
As her gaze fell on his outstretched hand, her frown deepened and her anger flared again.
He was outstretching something that looked like fish bones but she wasn’t an idiot, it was obvious what it was.
A comb.
Raising her icy eyes to his, she tried to get the words out in a level voice.
“Don’t tell me you were in my head again.”
“I wasn’t,” he said innocently.
Ignoring the comb in his outstretched hand, she continued using her fingers to rake through her hair.
She didn’t need his so-called generosity.
He crouched and made to come closer, but Diana was quicker. Grabbing the small blade she’d stuffed in her bag, she pointed the sharp edge towards him.
“I swear to God. If you so much as come an inch closer, I will cut your balls off.”
Yce’s white gaze dropped to the blade then rose.
“Balls?” he asked.
Diana’s eyes narrowed. “Your nuts. Your jewels. Your gems between your thighs.” She frowned, blade still pointed in his direction. “Don’t tell me you don’t have balls. Your nuts. I’m talking about your nuts.”
Blinking, his gaze dropped to his pants and Diana’s hand wavered as her gaze followed his.
“Oh,” he said, raising his gaze back to hers. “My syenges. I have two.”
She could feel her cheeks getting warm as her hand wavered again. He said it as if it was nothing—as if he wasn’t talking about his sex organs.
He kept his hand outstretched for a few more moments before realizing she was making no move to take the comb from him. Pulling it back and returning to his previous position, he stuffed the comb back into his bag.
The gem in his head was pulsing again as he stared her in the eyes, ignoring the blade in her hands.
He seemed to smile briefly then he was back to sharpening his own blade.
They sat in silence for a few minutes, with Diana seething. Returning the small blade to her bag, she went back to trying to rid her hair of the sand.
“I do not usually disclose when I have been in a being’s mind,” Yce finally said, causing her to raise her blue gaze to his white.
“What do you mean by that?” She really wasn’t in the mood for talking to him but what he was saying intrigued her.
“It is not usually…necessary,” he said.
Diana bit back a retort as she cast her eyes at the darkness deep into the cave.
“Your species is…” He paused.
“What?” Her icy gaze flew back to his as her anger surged. “Strange? Feeble? Fragile?”
“No.” His answer surprised her, momentarily making her lose her resolve. “Your species is…emotional,” he finished.
Diana laughed a mirthless laugh. “Well, if that isn’t a guy thing to say I don’t know what is. I suppose you’re wondering if it’s my time of the month as well?” She sneered, rolling her eyes before turning her focus on her hair again.
“Time of the month?” he asked.
“Forget it.”
“I am not aware of times of the month where one is particularly emotional.”
She could hear him shuffle from whe
re he was sitting, but she didn’t look to see what he was doing. She didn’t care.
The sooner they were away from this situation and she was reunited with the other women, she’d be okay. She was so done with space exploration, aliens, and unknown planets.
Those women were the only ones in this part of the universe that she had any connection to at all—the only human people on the same planet as her.
It was a strange feeling. A lonely one.
To think she’d thought life on Earth was shit. What she wouldn’t give to be back there right now? Suddenly her overly expensive California apartment and job as a fitness trainer didn’t seem so bad.
“Aah!” She pulled at her hair in frustration, finally leaning back against the sand wall as she let her arms fall to her sides.
It was no use. Her hair was tangled. She might actually have to cut it all off.
This whole experience was just getting more and more annoying by the minute.
Frowning, she crossed her arms across her chest and glanced over at Yce, her frown deepening as she did.
He was sitting cross-legged, his eyes closed. But the gem on his head was glowing white and the tattoos under his skin also seemed to be doing the same.
He did look like some kind of ethereal god…a handsome ethereal sex God. She scowled at herself at the thought.
She was angry at him, hated him at this moment even, but it was hard not acknowledging the fact that he was a cross between Superman and the frickin’ Witcher, with a face to match. Now that he wasn’t looking at her, she could stare at him without him noticing and she hated that she was enjoying what she was seeing.
He had a chiseled jaw framing a handsome face over a body that seemed to be formed by Zeus.
Damn.
She hated him even more for looking good. Why couldn’t he look like Gollum from the Lord of the Rings? Or Jabba the Hutt? Heck, she’d rejoice if he looked disgusting like Jabba.
She wouldn’t be sitting there hating him and enjoying the way he looked at the same time. She could just hate him freely and wholly.
But just what was he doing?
It had something to do with his powers, obviously. Psychic powers. She had never believed in such things but when someone walked around with a huge gem glowing in their forehead, it was hard not to believe such things were possible. Especially when that same someone had just shown you a part of your life that you had no memory of.