Alex Read online

It took me a second to look that one up before I could assure her with an amused chuckle, “No baby momma at all.”

  “Why’d you hesitate?”

  “I’m not from around here?” I hazarded.

  “You must be from BFE if you didn’t recognize that one.” She stuck her tongue out. “And if you’re clueless on that one, too, if stands for Bumfuck, Egypt, aka nowheresville.”

  I pictured my planet in my mind and nodded. These days, that description seemed pretty accurate. Nowheresville, indeed. “It is pretty deserted,” I agreed.

  “Well, I have to say I am glad you decided to leave and come here. You showed up just in time to save my life tonight. I don’t know if I could have survived what they had planned for me.”

  “You would have survived it.” My hearts cringed in my chest at the thought of harm coming to her. They were very lucky. If I’d arrived later and caught them in the act—

  “Why do you look like you’re murdering someone in your mind?”

  “Because they wouldn’t have survived.” I recognized the alley where I left the pod and guided her into it.

  “Yeah, right,” she sputtered, half laughing. “Who would have done anything? Like he said, it would have been my word against theirs. They would have received no punishment.”

  “Oh, but they would have. Trust me.”

  As if that combination of words jarred her back into reality, she looked around, realizing where she was. Her wide eyes conveyed to me how nervous she was becoming. “Trust me, he says, as he leads me down a dead-end alley.”

  Wounded to the core, I inquired, “Have I done anything to cause you to feel you’re not safe with me?”

  “Not yet.”

  “What if I said our meeting was no accident?”

  She swallowed hard, “Not helping.”

  “Why? Why is it not helping?”

  She backed up against the wall and visibly relaxed a bit, seemingly more secure with a solid surface behind her. She raised her shoulders, lifting her hands in the air, “You don’t know me. We’ve never met, never spoken—how could our meeting have been no accident?”

  I gave my pod time to partially materialize before bringing her attention to it. With a wave of my hand the doorway slid open. “Come inside so I can tend to your wound and I’ll explain.”

  “And if I refuse? If I say no?”

  “Then that means I’ve failed in my mission and it’ll be time for me to go.”

  “Go where?”

  “Ah, but that’s part of my explanation. To hear it you have to come inside.”

  4

  Aly

  ◆◆◆

  Without another word he stepped inside the doorway and disappeared into the darkness within. I bounced on my toes, undecided. What kind of idiot follows a stranger through a mysterious doorway floating in the middle of a dead-end alley? Especially a doorway attached to nothing the eye could see? A memory of a certain machine that was bigger on the inside than it appeared to be on the outside flitted through my mind. What if? My eyes widened at the thought and before I could second guess myself, I was following him across the threshold.

  “Are you an alien?” My eyes adjusted to the subdued lighting and I scanned interior, quickly spotting him against the far wall.

  He turned to face me, and I could see he was cradling a small square tray in his hands. He gestured to the seat closest to him, “Let’s get your cheek taken care of and then we’ll talk. Come, sit down.”

  I heard the door close behind me with a hiss of escaping air but I stood firm despite the tremble in my knees. “Come into my house said the spider to the fly.”

  His eyes took on a faraway look for a moment and then he smiled. ”Will you walk into my parlor?" said the spider to the fly.”

  “Why do you do that?”

  “Do what?”

  “You get a distracted look in your eye sometimes; usually right after I’ve said something off the wall—like just now. What are you doing when you do that?”

  “I’m accessing your worldwide information system.”

  I stepped closer, curious despite myself. “Accessing what?”

  “Your—” He did it again, “Ah, yes, your internet. The World Wide Web. The information superhighway. Cyberspace.”

  “I get it. You can stop now. How are you doing it?”

  “I have a neural network implanted in my cerebral cortex. It links with my translator to enable me to speak to you, allows me to control my pod, and also lets me access your internet.”

  “Translator? So, you are an alien.” It wasn’t a question so much as a statement of fact since we don’t have such things here yet and I was pretty sure he knew it.

  “Are you okay with that?” He gently blotted my cheek with a soft cloth. It was soaked with a pungent liquid that made my nose wrinkle and my eyes water.

  “Ouch!” I jerked back because the smell wasn’t the only thing making my eyes water. “That stings!”

  “That’s the nano-tech repairing your skin. If it’s too painful I can apply an anesthetic.”

  “No,” I shook my head, not wanting him to think I was weak. Refusing to look too closely at my reasons for feeling that way, I added, “I can handle it.”

  “If you change your mind let me know.”

  “I will.” I studied his face as he carefully applied a bandage to the tender area beneath my eye. “So… is this how you normally look?”

  His eyes lifted up to mine, then lowered back to his task. “What do you mean?”

  “I’m just wondering if you always look the way you look right now—the hair, the face, the… uh, body?” The killer body with rock hard abs, defined pecs and biceps bigger around than my freaking head!

  “Yes.” His forehead creased, “Why would you ask that?”

  “Why wouldn’t I ask that? It’s ingrained deep in my psyche after years of watching TV shows and movies about aliens. One of the easiest ways to infiltrate us is apparently to assume our form. If you don’t believe me, you should watch the Men in Black series.”

  “I have,” he grinned. “Those were pretty good.”

  “You’ve seen them?” My jaw dropped. “How?”

  “A better question would be who hasn’t seen them?”

  I pulled back, “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “You blast your movies and your television shows and your radio channels across the universe in every possible direction and expect no one to come across it?” He tapped the edge of the bandage one last time, stashed the tray, and dropped into the seat in front of mine—which was also the only other seat in the small room. Turning to face me, he shrugged. “That’s a ballsy move, considering you don’t know what other lifeforms are out there.”

  “So, there are other species out there. I knew it! I knew we weren’t alone.” I grinned at him. “Tell me about them.”

  “Which ones? The ones that will eat you or the ones that won’t?”

  My grin fell from my face and shattered on the floor at my feet. I stared at him, horrified. “What do you mean, the ones that will eat you? There are aliens out there that would consider us food?”

  “There are aliens out there that consider anything they can shove into their mouths, chew, and swallow to be food. You’d be nothing more than a tender appetizer for one of them.”

  “They must be huge, then. I consider myself to be more of a main course, to be honest.”

  He seared me with those silvery blue eyes, biting down on his lower lip as he traced a scorching hot path I could feel from the top of my head to my toes and back. “Really? A main course?” He shook his head. “I was thinking you look more like a dessert.”

  “Dessert?” I could have shattered glass with that squeak. Blushing, I coughed to clear my throat. “How so?”

  “Because you look like you’d taste sinfully sweet and melt on the tongue.” Wow. Who knew he was such a sweet talker?

  “Is it getting warm in here?” I fanned myself with both hands and squirme
d in my chair. He had one thing right. I was definitely melting—some places more than others.

  5

  Alex

  ◆◆◆

  I could smell her arousal and it was doing things to me. My body reacted to her scent like it was a mating call and I was thankful for the low lighting left over from the pod’s period of hibernation. Still, to be safe, I crossed my legs and propped my arms on my knees.

  “You still haven’t explained your earlier comments.”

  “Hmm?” My eyes were focused on her pink pout, but it still took a moment before her words sank in.

  “You said you’d explain how our meeting wasn’t an accident if I came in.” She licked her lips, almost as if she felt self-conscious underneath my fixated stare. “So, here I am. Explain it to me.”

  “Oh, yeah, well…”

  “And stop staring at my mouth like that. It’s weird.”

  “Is it?”

  “Yes, it is. How would you like it if I sat here staring at your mouth? Or your chest. Or—”

  “Or?” I tilted my head to the side, waiting for her to finish what she was saying.

  “Or your ass.”

  I had a hunch, “That wasn’t what you were going to say.”

  Her cheeks bloomed like roses. “What was I going to say, then?”

  I let it pass, taking a different tack, “Do you like looking at my chest and my… ass?”

  “Wouldn’t you like to know?” Her cheeks were so red she appeared almost feverish.

  “Yes, I would.”

  “We’re supposed to be talking about our meeting not being accidental.”

  I nodded, “And this ties in to that.”

  “How so?”

  “It’s a long story.”

  “I have time. I’m in no hurry to head home. Knowing Leroy, the cops are probably watching the place, waiting for me.”

  “You’ve done nothing wrong.”

  She sighed, “I know that, and you know that, but try telling it to my landlady. She’s horrible. If a dragon and a chihuahua had babies she’s probably what would pop out.”

  “Is she an alien, too?” I must have looked as confused as I felt because she took pity on me and explained further.

  “No, she’s just tiny, old and grumpy. She’s four foot eleven, walks around in a self-generated cloud of smoke, roaring about anything and everything—and once she sinks her teeth into something she doesn’t turn loose without a damn good reason. Maybe not even then. If the police showed up, she will have pumped them for every morsel of information she can get. Even if they don’t say anything at all, she has a scanner and has probably already figured out why they’re there.” She put her head in her hands, “My stuff may already be on the sidewalk, getting picked through by every busybody in the neighborhood.”

  I hated seeing her cry. I offered, “We can swing by and check if you want.”

  “I thought you liked me.” Hurt filled her expressive eyes, “If you want to get rid of me just say so. You don’t have to throw me to the sharks.”

  “I’m not throwing you anywhere.”

  “You suggested we go by my apartment where they’re probably parked in unmarked cars waiting for me to show up!”

  “They wouldn’t even see us.”

  “Sure, they wouldn’t. Are we going to be invisible or something?”

  “Yes.”

  She rolled her eyes. “I was being sarcastic.”

  “I wasn’t.”

  “Oh, so you’re a superhero now? I thought you said you were an alien.”

  “I am an alien.”

  “Hmm, whatever. I’m not even sure I believe anything you say, anymore. Let me out of here.”

  “Wait—”

  “I don’t want to wait. All you’ve done is lead me in circles. I can’t seem to get a straight answer out of you.”

  “I came here looking specifically for you.”

  “Here, as in Catalina, Florida?”

  “Here, as in Earth.”

  “Bullshit. Why me?”

  “You’re my mate. You hold the fate of my people in your hands.”

  She rolled her lips between her teeth and bit down, on the verge of laughter. “You’re joking, right?”

  “Do I look like I’m joking?” I raised both eyebrows, keeping my face straight, deadly serious.

  “Well, no, but… you have to be. I mean, out of every female on every planet in the universe, I’m the fated one to help save your people?” She did something with her fingers when she said the part about being fated, but I ignored it. It was just a distraction from her words and her words were the important thing.

  I nodded, “Yes.”

  “How is that possible?”

  “Are you saying you don’t feel the attraction between us?”

  “Well, yes, I feel it.” She let her shoulders rise and fall as she motioned at me. “But have you looked in a freaking mirror, like…ever? You’re gorgeous. Any woman with eyes would be attracted to you, but—”

  “But what?”

  “Guys like you don’t go for girls like me. Not in real life. They just… don’t.”

  “Don’t they? Take a guess at how many women I’ve invited to follow me through that door?” She opened her mouth and then closed it, her eyes growing wider. She finally pointed at herself and I nodded, “Exactly. Just you. I combed through so many planets, looking for that tug in my hearts—”

  “Heart.”

  “Hearts.”

  “But we only have one…”

  “You only have one. Vauv’axians are born with two.”

  “Seriously?”

  “It’s common knowledge—”

  “Not on my world, it isn’t. How could it be? You aren’t even common knowledge on my world.”

  “Yeah, well, I just told you so now you know.”

  “Fine, you have two hearts. What does that have to do with me?”

  “That’s easy. Though we can copulate with anyone with similar parts, we only feel that spark for our true mate—”

  “Mate?” She blinked several times, “Singular?”

  “Yes. We mate for life.”

  “And…” she swallowed hard, “how many planets are we talking about here?”

  “I don’t know. Two million? More? There were a lot in the beginning. But by the time we were done we’d narrowed it down to five.”

  She shoved her hair away from her forehead with a shaky hand. “What was so special about those five?”

  “They were the ones at least one of us reacted to.”

  “Simply seeing the planet was all it took?”

  “Yes.”

  “And you’re saying that out of all of those planets, you only felt this… spark… this tug, once?”

  “Yes.”

  “And without the tug, what happens?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean, you find a pretty girl and you hook up with her—what happens?”

  “I feel like you’re not listening to me.”

  “I’m listening.”

  “Are you?”

  “Yes!”

  “I don’t think you were, because if you were listening, you’d know already.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Just tell me again.”

  “Without that spark, it’s just sex.”

  “Oh,” she blushed. Then, “But what about the women on your own planet?”

  “There are no women left on my planet.”

  “What happened to them? Did they get sick?”

  “No. They were either abducted, or killed, or they passed away from old age long before I was born.”

  “Abducted or killed by whom?”

  6

  Aly

  ◆◆◆

  “Our rivals from the planet Qhozux.”

  I could barely wrap my head around the things he was telling me. “They stole or killed all the females on your planet?”

  “Yes.”

  “Why did they do this?” I sat there wi
th my mouth hanging open, flummoxed, as he told me the story of the rival clan’s queen sneaking into a raiding party headed for their world. I stopped him at that point to clarify a few points in my head. “So, she knew the danger? She knew things could get messy if they got caught, right?”