Sinth Source - A Sci-Fi Alien Romance: Sinth Strain Book 2

by Pearl Tate

  Now I’m panting like a fool, and there’s a voice in my head telling me to just keep it together. I know it’s rude to stare or let on when you see someone disabled or injured. I’ve had my fair share of meeting and greeting some of the incoming troops who were relocated back from overseas to our base, but I’ve never seen anyone that looks like this guy. What happened to him?

  Swallowing down the bile that’s rising up my throat, I walk through the door he’s opened after punching in a code with his free hand. As soon as we begin walking down the hall though, I realize that I’ve made a huge mistake. This guy isn’t burned or disfigured. If he is, everyone else here in the halls is too because everyone we pass looks just like him—or some variation of.

  It’s like I’ve walked into an episode of Star Trek, and this is some kind of reptilian species. I feel like I’m floating as I’m led down the hall a few doors, before he opens a door on the left and waves me inside. There’s only a table with two chairs, every piece made of metal and attached with bolts to the floor.

  Moving into the room, I circle to the other side of the table, looking back at him and trying not to freak out about being in such a tiny space with this creature. And he is a creature. Some piece inside me realizes—this isn’t a human, and I’m much more willing to believe that little voice since now I know there are aliens among us.

  Sinking into the seat across from him, I realize his eyes are entirely one color with no white showing around the strange amber yellow. When he blinks, I watch in horrified fascination as two lids close and open one after the other.

  Creepy as fuck. I’m so screwed.

  I don’t have any time to digest what this could all mean before he says, “Someone will be in with you shortly to discuss your charges.”

  Right. That’s why I’m here—or so they say.

  I let out a relieved breath when he closes the door, even though it seems to lock ominously behind him, and I look around at the plain, white walls. Three of the walls have one-way mirrors, I just notice.

  Closing my eyes, I try to block out my surroundings by taking deep, calming breaths. Teresa said she’d come. She’ll get Desin. I have to stay calm and just keep it together while I wait.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  - Desin

  Staring at the red-haired Earth woman, I instantly know our suspicions about Mavin were true. He mated. Somehow … somewhere … he ran across an Earth female. She’s small, but not as small as Jade.

  The most striking feature is her hair. It’s bright red, and I’d say not a natural color. I’ve seen many of the Earth women with other colors either alone or blended in with their natural hair. Large chunks from her temples are brighter orange, blending back into the red, and then the rest of her head is sprinkled with the orange tint.

  “You don’t look as surprised as I expected. Did Trus tell you?” Mavin still has his arm protectively around Amy.

  Mavin’s partner Trus is still at Teleplay where they were last stationed together. Teleplay was exposed to the Wen virus not that long ago, which is why the Sinth Sovereignty used it as a training platform for Mavin and Trus when they created a panic by not following isolation procedure and reporting a possible infection too early during a covert training.

  “No,” Payak assures him. “Don’t think Trus would betray your trust. He didn’t tell me, but it didn’t take long after arriving to figure out that females here are mating compatible. Both Desin and I have mated in the last few days.”

  “Congratulations!” Mavin throws out his free arm, clapping me on the shoulder. “Amazing, isn’t it?”

  “Mavin!” Amy smacks him in the chest, blushing a red I didn’t even realize was possible in Earth-dwellers’ skin.

  “What? I wasn’t telling them how great the sex was—” Mavin begins to defend himself before Amy turns and uses both fists this time.

  “Please! I don’t care if you discuss it—just not while I’m here, please?”

  Chuckling, Payak steps forward, offering his hand. “It’s really nice to meet you, Amy. I’m honored to meet Mavin’s mate and greet her in the Earth’s formal hand shaking.”

  Amy finally turns from Mavin, giving him one last admonishing look before smiling at Payak and grabbing his hand. “It’s really great to meet you too. Payak, right?” When he nods, she releases him, leaning forward while cupping her hand next to her mouth. “Honestly, it’s my fault he took off to come here.” Payak’s eyebrows shoot up as she nods, stepping back to throw her arm around Mavin’s waist and lean into his chest. “Yeah. He rescued me from a jail on Teleplay where I was locked up with three other men, and we were all really sick. But I couldn’t just stay there, you know? Or just stay with him, even though he was telling me that we’re ‘mated for life’ and all that jazz. I have friends and stuff here, so I conned him into bringing me back. Sorry about that.”

  Smiling, Amy holds out her hand to me this time. “Desin.” I announce, impressed that she was so forthright with Payak. She must care about Mavin, and from the way mating seems to be working with the Earth women, they’re just as attracted and committed as we are once mated.

  “I’ve done my research.” Mavin looks down at Amy. “According to the Coalition Charter, I’m able to go where my mate goes. As she pointed out, I belong to her just as much as she belongs to me.”

  “True enough,” Payak agrees, much to my own shock and subsequent relief. I haven’t thought too much about the future with all the chaos of the Wen virus and mating going on, but I wasn’t certain what our obligations would be—me to my people and Jade to her responsibilities. The future is so uncertain, but there’s one thing I’m absolutely positive of—we’ll be together.

  “I won’t argue with you on that point,” Payak continues. “There won’t be any separation from our mates, but what have you been doing here?” Payak waves toward the crater in the ground behind us. I wondered the same thing.

  Amy points off in the distance. “We aren’t that far from the Yosemite Park entrance, and I’ve been camping here with my dad a bunch of times. Since we can travel to pretty much anywhere we’ve been before …” She shrugs and Mavin nods, picking up the conversation.

  “Amy has a … difficult relationship with her father—”

  “That I’m working on!” Amy slaps Mavin on the chest again, emphasizing her aggravation with what he’s sharing.

  “But … she’s making amends and working on getting some things packed up, transferring loved ones’ items and mementos she’d like to have into our dimension for safekeeping. I’ve—”

  Another thump to Mavin’s chest, and Amy follows her hand with her chin, looking up at him adoringly. “And there’s Jen.”

  “Right.” Twisting her tighter into his embrace, Mavin leans down and pecks Amy’s lips, driving her to hum contentedly in his arms. “Amy’s friend, Jen, has recently lost her husband. She’s been going through some transitions with her business and in-laws. And Trus …”

  Payak and I both stare at Mavin as his voice trails off. He’s looking down at Amy with a conflicted expression. Amy shrugs at the same time Payak exclaims, “We heard he went derelict a week ago from the Sovereignty. They thought he may have met up with you. Has he?”

  “Yes, but I told him I wouldn’t share that he’s here.” Mavin rubs the back of his neck, looking out over the burning landscape.

  Laughing, I add, “We knew he had to be around here. He stayed on Teleplay to keep an eye on the locals, correct?”

  “Yeah!” Amy doesn’t seem as worried about keeping Trus’ confidence as Mavin. “Whoever took me from Earth was sure to turn up eventually. He found out what transport we arrived on and is now waiting for someone he knows to get back to him with more information.” Licking her lips, she frowns. “Everyone is playing dumb about who commissioned it, so he’s chasing some other leads before he takes in what he’s found so far. He’s afraid if he goes in too early, it’ll just get squashed.”

  “Well, I have something that may or
may not be related that he could look into.” I say, thinking about the container Jade took from the warehouse and plans to send off to a lab for testing. I convinced her I could get it taken care of more effectively, and this is probably my chance. “Jade had something pique her interest at the military base where we’ve been staying. It’s a new ‘dietary supplement’ her superiors were bringing in, and she says it’s not something safe for humans to consume the way they’re instructing. Right now, it’s only going into items the Taxin would be requesting, but they were willing to kill her and Teresa to keep them from spreading any information about it arriving or being there. Maybe this ties in?”

  Payak nods. “Yeah. At this point, anything is a lead, and we shouldn’t rule it out. Especially since time is of the essence. The virus is going to spread quickly with the two places—”

  “The Wen virus?” Amy’s looking up at Mavin, her eyes wide. When he nods, Amy spins in Mavin’s arms to look at Payak directly. “Where is it? Is it bad?”

  Payak shrugs, stepping back slightly from the ledge. “It’s in Kitimat and—”

  “Kitimat, Canada?” Amy’s eyes are wide as she quizzes him, a look of dawning horror on her features.

  I can feel Mavin tense up next to me, and I’m sure he knows what she’s about to say. Payak seems oblivious to her concern as he continues to scan the horizon in front of us. “We’ve been out to Kitimat and helped the Earth-dwellers collect the transitioned they’ve spotted so far. There were probably forty or so in total. Don’t you think, Desin?”

  I don’t get a chance to answer because Amy’s already cut me off. “That’s where Brad headed to. He’s my ex-boyfriend.”

  Confused, I watch her and Mavin stare at each other. I’m not sure what they’re thinking, so I ask, “Are you worried for him? We could look into the missing persons to see—”

  “No, it’s just that Mavin told me I couldn’t be contagious—”

  “You aren’t contagious. You’re recovered—well, except for your hair, but you know what I mean. Right, Payak?”

  Payak stares at Amy with a strange look on his face. “Well, I’ve never heard of anyone surviving the Wen virus before. In order for her to contaminate anyone there’d have to be an exchange of the infection. Bodily fluid exchange or bites or scratches … to spread it if she’s still carrying it …”

  Amy’s face goes white, and a strange expression I don’t recognize crosses it. Mavin on the other hand—now, his reaction is totally recognizable. His hands are clenched into fists as his face flushes. Amy throws her arms around his waist, burying her face against him as she murmurs, “Don’t be mad. I was afraid to tell you. I knew you’d kill him …”

  Mavin looks over Amy’s head as the seriousness of the situation settles over all of us. “Amy went to get her belongings from Brad’s place shortly after we arrived back to Earth.” He looks down at her. “You said he wasn’t there.”

  Swallowing hard, Amy’s eyes fill with tears. “He wasn’t there until my last trip. I was in and out just like we talked about, but he grabbed me. I acted on instinct. I probably did scratch him …”

  Mavin doesn’t say a word, just wraps his arms around her as she begins to sob.

  Payak’s the one that adds, “It’s too bad you didn’t kill him …”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  - Jade

  The door lock disengages with a resounding click, and I open my eyes, bracing myself for who might walk through the door. I’m praying for Teresa, but I know how unrealistic that is. I’ll be happy with just a normal human.

  Unfortunately, my prayers aren’t answered as a more weathered-looking reptile-headed humanoid person—would you call them a “person”?—walks through the door and without a word settles into the chair across from me. “Ah, Jade. You’ve been quite the handful here in the last couple days.”

  That southern drawl … “Greg?” My voice is high-pitched, squeaking out before I can censor myself.

  His head cocks in an eerie way, and I force myself to look at him. Really look at him. I’ve avoided staring up until this point. At first, thinking it was a disfigurement—which I now see was ridiculous—I was trying to be polite. But this is my boss.

  Has he looked like this the entire time I’ve known him? I think back to some of the stuff Teresa talked about earlier. Something about freaking out when she met with some new arrivals and having Payak come to her to help sort it out. The new arrivals were actually another species of alien …

  Could that be what this is? But on base? Why didn’t anyone tell me this yet?

  “… Does that make sense to you?” Snapping out of my internal reverie to focus on Greg Viscount, my supervisor for the last couple years, I realize I need to get him to repeat himself.

  “Um … I’m really sorry, sir.” Scrubbing my hands over my face dramatically, I point down to my braless pajama top with the pink kitten and “cuddle me” label. “I’m still really discombobulated and not focusing properly. As you can see, they pulled me in right after I woke up. Would you mind repeating that?”

  I watch with avid fascination as his tongue whips out into the air between us. A weird puckering between his eyebrows has the fine scales on his face shifting, forming vertical lines across his forehead that feather back into where his hair would be on a human. The longer I stare at his somewhat grotesque looking features, the more I feel like I can “see” my boss Greg.

  “Pay attention, Jade. Fuck! This is more serious than even the warehouse the other day!” Sitting back in his chair, I have to concentrate so hard to not recoil as his hands begin shuffling through the file on the desk in front of him. His fingers end in talons. Talons!

  “It’s been filed and logged now. There isn’t anything I can do to stop this. It’s in the system, and now we have to treat it like any other newbie in the military. So … why didn’t you tell your recruiter that you’d had pellagra as a child?”

  Greg stumbles over the word, not even pronouncing it correctly. His wide mouth doesn’t even seem to be moving along with the words? Does he even speak our language?

  “Jade!”

  Yeah. Just like that. Greg’s—or the creature’s—mouth moves, but there’s a lag on the words. It must be some kind of translation technology—

  The chair scrapes the floor, dragging my eyes back to him as he picks up the file. “Are you drunk?”

  Looming over me at the small table, my heart begins to gallop furiously as he stands, slamming the folder onto the table between us. “I’ve never known you to be so idiotic. They sent me in here because we have a relationship, but if you’re not even going to answer, I’m going to let this go the normal way.”

  Calling out, and consequently assuring me that we’re being watched, Greg takes a few steps toward the mirror behind me, causing me to flinch. “I want a sobriety—”

  The larger scales along the side of his head flare up, making almost a crown-like appearance as he stares at me. My nerves are off the charts, and my initial alarm morphs to terror as I burst into nervous tears. Despite the fact that I’m crying, I start to giggle as his tongue flies out, aiming right for me. When he bends to look me in the eyes, the inch-wide appendage almost touches my nose.

  Turning back to the mirror, he demands, “I want a full battery of drug testing. Get someone in here to draw blood.”

  Striding to the door, it isn’t until he lifts his hand to the keypad that he looks back at me where I’m hiccupping furiously, trying to get a grip. “You’ve just made this a lot worse for yourself.”

  Damn! I’m as appalled as he is right now at my behavior. I’m usually so calm under pressure, but this has tested my limits. But right now, the only thing I can think about is getting the fuck out of here.

  Fuck Teresa bringing me clothes. Fuck getting Desin or Payak … or anything else. If I have to look at any more of these guys, I’m not sure I’ll be able to hold it together. It’s almost impossible to not jump up and bang on the glass like an idiot. My natural instinc
t is the same as if I saw a big spider—or a snake. Illogical terror!

  As the door clicks shut behind him, I realize my fingers are gripping the bottom edge of my seat, hard enough I feel the metal cut into my hands. The pain focuses my thoughts, making me realize I just need to relax. There’s nowhere to go.

  They’ve got me. I’m locked up, and even if I could get out of this room there’s nowhere to go. Every door … and even the elevator is accessed by keypad codes. I’m fucked.

  Closing my eyes for a minute, I hold my breath. I can get rid of the hiccups at least and get a grip. Imagine someplace nice and peaceful. Like the bed in Desin’s dimension.

  Relaxing. Peaceful. Like that tub.

  When I open my eyes, I realize instantly what I’ve done as colors shimmer around me in the air. I can see both the room I’m isolated in and the bed in Desin’s dimension. Woah.

  Reaching out, I touch the top of the plush mattress that’s now right next to the chair I’m in, assuring myself I’m really here and not imagining it. Both places seem … right … here …

  What the hell? Did I do it wrong? Desin did promise to teach me more about phasing—but with him! Not by myself!

  I see the door open into the room and two reptile-headed guys stumble in with their guns drawn! Holy fucking shit!

  Throwing my hands into the air, I stumble from the chair—but it doesn’t move. Retreating with my hands still up, my back never hits the wall. In fact, the wall is in front of my face in a few steps, blocking me from seeing my hands briefly. They’re on the other side! I panic, stepping back into the room to watch the scary aliens with their guns leaving as they curse.

  They didn’t see me! I really am phased, but … I’m still here somehow. I don’t know what to do. Sinking to my butt on the floor, I’m debating whether this is good or bad. Oh, who am I kidding?

  This is bad! They probably think I escaped somehow. If I was in trouble before, now I’ll probably be shot on sight!