Trapped by the Alien: A Scifi Alien Romance (Fated Mates of the Titan Empire Book 5)

by Tammy Walsh

  I checked over my shoulders as I hustled toward the study. I didn’t want to run. It would be too conspicuous.

  Not that I could spare the time. I only had a handful of minutes left.

  I entered the office, checked no one was there, before making a b-line for the desk.

  I extracted the device from my clutch purse. There was a circle of metal protruding out the end like a standard USB drive. I assumed that was how I inserted it into the computer. I held it out and—

  There was no computer.

  No motherboard. No keyboard. No circuit board. Nothing.

  “No, no, no, no, no….” I muttered. “There has to be a computer here somewhere…”

  I surveyed the room. Where was it? What did a computer even look like in this crazy Titan world of theirs? I returned to the desk and sifted through the papers.

  Could a computer look like a piece of paper in this world? I pressed the device to the papers, to the books, to the chair…

  Nothing happened.

  Nothing on the desk was the computer.

  Then where the hell was it?

  I scanned each of the walls. There were portraits, photographs, moving images…

  But no screens. No blinking electronic lights.

  This can’t be happening. This can’t be happening.

  The hardest part of this damn plan was supposed to be getting inside the room, not finding the damn computer!

  The seconds were ticking down now.

  I wasn’t going to do it.

  I was going to fail.

  And then me and my friends wouldn’t get home.

  We’d be stuck here.

  And it would all be my fault!

  “No!” I yelled, slamming my fist on the desk.

  A portrait on the wall, displaced by my outburst, slipped and fell on the floor. I was about to pick it up when I had a sudden realization…

  There was artwork on every wall…

  Every wall but the one behind me. One of the panels stood slightly ajar as if it were warped…

  I glanced at the doorway but it was empty. Thank God!

  I heard Niik’s nails scrabbling for purchase on the floor in the next room as he rushed excitedly to scoop up the last of the few bacon pieces.

  I moved to the back wall and fingered the warped panel. It wavered beneath the pressure I exerted on it. It opened like a door on hinges. I eased it open.

  Behind it was the largest computer I’d ever seen. The wall in this room and the one out in the hallway ended at different points. The hallway ended a good yard from the computer’s front. It’d been altered to cater to the computer’s girth and spanned the entire width of the room. I’d only ever seen computers this large in old documentaries.

  I tugged a second panel open. Lights blinked and there were more dials and switches than you’d find on an airplane.

  What did they use such a computer for? These Titans lived very traditional, old fashioned lives. Judging by their level of technology, they could zip across the galaxy at whim. A computer of this size must be a supercomputer. I felt along the computer’s face, looking for the circle hole where I could insert the device.

  I found it and slipped the device inside. It occurred to me that having it sticking out of the computer terminal wouldn’t exactly be the most inconspicuous thing in the world. Anyone who saw it would easily notice it. But I needn’t have worried. The device morphed, shifting into a liquid-like material, and slithered through the hole I’d inserted it into.

  I stepped back. Would the computer explode? Overload the system? Turn it into a weapon?

  The lights blinked and the dials and switches remained exactly as they were. I guess it was some sort of virus or tracking program. The Changelings didn’t mention destroying anything, only spying.

  And that was it. My mission was complete.

  I could go home. So could my friends.

  We were getting out of there!

  I hopped on the spot and clapped my hands.

  Then the hairs stood up on the back of my neck. It always happened when I felt eyes on me.

  Someone was watching me.

  But not from the doorway…

  From the opposite wall.

  I turned and expected to see someone standing at the window, peering in at me from outside. But it wasn’t someone outside. It was the portrait I’d accidentally knocked to the floor.

  It was of a woman. She had long raven hair and a small face, with red lips and a pretty smile. Her eyes were green and sexy with smoke.

  If it hadn’t been painted, I would have thought it was a mirror.

  She looked like me.

  Sure, there were a few differences—I would have killed to have her nose—but there was no doubt in my mind who this woman was and the impact she’d recently had on my life.

  She was both the reason Kal was attracted to me and why he was afraid to get closer.

  It was his wife. The one Emana said had died.

  I felt embarrassed, ashamed of myself for betraying his trust. He was a lord but he was also a Titan with regular thoughts and emotions.

  He deserved better than for me to take advantage of him and learn his deepest secrets. Especially when it was his departed wife he was struggling to get over.

  The Changelings must have known I looked like her.

  “She looks just like her,” was what they said that day they sprung me from my pod.

  It was the reason they had bought me in the first place.

  Because I looked like his wife and I could get closer to him than anyone else.

  And if his wife were looking in, staring at me right now the way she was from this portrait, what would she think?

  I turned away from her unblinking gaze. I couldn’t bear for her eyes to be on me, judging me.

  I shook my head and erected a wall to block the worst of the guilt. I was there to do a job and return home. That was all.

  What happened on this planet had nothing to do with me. I was a human from Earth. Until just a few days ago, I didn’t know there was intelligent life out there, never mind that they mourned the loss of their lovers.

  I hung the portrait on the wall and backed away from it.

  I needed to get out of there. I needed to get to my room. Then I could take stock and prepare to leave this place, leave Kal, his dead wife, and never think about them ever again—

  I bumped into something. It sent my heart rate soaring.

  It was just a desk, I told myself. It’s nothing.

  And then I felt it.

  A cool breeze tickled the hairs on my arms, making them stand to attention. I looked at the window but it was shut. I raised my hand and felt the wind whisper against my sweaty palm. It wasn’t even coming from the window. It was coming from directly ahead.

  From the bookshelves.

  It didn’t matter.

  I turned and ran from the room, just as Niik licked what remained of the bacon crumbs from his hairy upper lip. He looked very pleased with himself.

  I couldn’t bear to face the party and the happy revelers. I needed to get away from them, as far away as I could.

  I drifted past the revelers and up the stairs, feeling like a ghost passing through an uninhabited world. I climbed the stairs as fast as I could without looking like I was running from something.

  I could have gone to my bedroom and hid there but the house servants knew I might go there. I needed to go somewhere I wouldn’t be disturbed, where I could hide until the Changelings came to get me and take me home.

  I wound up one staircase after another, and when I couldn’t go any further, I marched down the endless hallways until I met another series of stairs. These weren’t built like the others. They were narrower, cruder, and steeper.

  A tower, I thought. These steps would lead to one of the corner towers. No one would be up there.

  Perfect.

  They were difficult to climb with my high heels, so I removed them and carried them in the crook of two
hooked fingers. The stone steps were roughly cut and the decades of dust caked the souls of my feet.

  My breath became thick and I pushed myself harder.

  My heart raced and I could barely lift my legs high enough to reach the next step. I didn’t slow. And when they became too steep, I pressed a hand to every fourth step, climbing them like a concrete ladder.

  Up and up I went, higher and higher until glancing down gave me vertigo.

  I paused a moment. I felt lightheaded and woozy. I thought I might trip and fall down those steps. Just one flight would be enough to kill me if I fell badly. I waited a moment, my forehead beading with sweat.

  Then I continued to climb, slower this time, but onward and upward. Then, finally, I reached the top.

  There was no sign of congratulations, no finish line ribbon, but it felt like an achievement.

  The floor was varnished wood and polished to a high shine. I pulled myself up and moved away from the hole in the floor in case I stumbled through it. The odds were good I would end up doing something like that.

  I placed my hands on my head to expanded my lungs. I panted for a good five minutes before I recovered. It felt good. I usually exercised every day and I’d missed it.

  I turned to the room I now found myself in. It was surprisingly large, circular, with a pitched roof. A bookcase blocked most of the view but it was a room that was used often.

  But for what purpose?

  I moved around the bookcase to the other side. A single square table took up the majority of the space. On it, hundreds of tiny, intricately carved models of tiny houses perched on a shallow river. A town. A mountain encircled it on one side and a castle sat like a watchful guardian on the other.

  Someone had built a to-scale model of the entire town and surrounding area.

  I giggled in wonder and covered my mouth with my hands. I’d always loved little models as a girl. I liked to wander amongst them and feel like a giant.

  I peered closer at the tiny buildings and the little people walking through the streets. I reached down with my hand like the finger of God and gently poked one of the little figures.

  “Hello there, little man,” I said. “Where are you going today?”

  I caught movement out the corner of my eye.

  I darted back and almost lost my feet.

  Kal raised his hands so as not to scare me.

  “It’s only me,” he said.

  I pressed a hand to my heart. It was still recovering from the ordeal up the stairs. I wasn’t sure it could take another pummeling.

  I chuckled with relief and shook my head. I had a terrible feeling it was going to be a Changeling. They had a habit of suddenly creeping out of the shadows.

  “You scared me,” I said.

  “I’m sorry,” he said. “I didn’t know anyone else was up here.”

  “That makes two of us.”

  He’d taken his jacket and tie off and unbuttoned his shirt. His muscles were toned and tight, just the way I knew they would be. In one hand, he held another building. It had a flattop roof and a small fence around its invisible square backyard.

  “You built this whole town?” I said.

  “I did,” he said.

  “It must have taken you a long time.”

  “My whole life. I don’t work on it all the time. Only when I want to escape.”

  That sounded familiar…

  “I’m sorry,” I said. “I’m intruding—”

  He stepped forward.

  “No, not at all,” he said. “I didn’t mean escape from you. I meant… everyone else.”

  I smiled at him. Not you. Everyone else.

  “Now I sound like a hermit,” Kal said.

  “No,” I said. “It’s good to have a mancave.”

  He cocked his head to one side at the unfamiliar word ‘mancave.’

  “I mean, somewhere you can rest and relax without stress,” I said.

  He nodded.

  “It’s common on your planet to have a… mancave?” he said.

  “If you have space for one, yes.”

  “I like it. Mancave. I chose this tower because no one ever comes up here.”

  “Except annoying guests,” I said.

  “You could never be annoying,” Kal said.

  I was pretty sure he didn’t mean for it to sound sweet but that’s the way it came across. Sweet and sexy… A dangerous combination.

  “I’m pretty sure my friends would disagree with you about me being annoying sometimes,” I said with a chuckle.

  He handed me the latest model he’d made.

  “Would you like to place it in the town?” he said.

  Yes, I would, but I knew I wouldn’t do a good job.

  “I’m not sure I should,” I said. “I was never much good at woodwork.”

  “It’s no big deal,” he said. “You just need to put it over there in the corner.”

  I looked from him to the model. Surely even I couldn’t mess that up?

  “Okay,” I said.

  He picked up a small tube of glue and came over to me. I could smell the sawdust and drying paint on him. I never thought a lord would ever need to use his hands like this.

  He ran the glue around the base of the model and gave it to me. He stood beside me and helped me guide it into the right position. His arms were muscular and strong, but his touch was delicate and measured. His shirt hung open and I caught a full view of his toned physique.

  I poked my tongue out in concentration. I needed to get this right…

  I pressed the model into place on the outskirts of town.

  “There,” I said, straightening up. “How’s that?”

  His face fell.

  “Terrible,” he said. “You’ve ruined it. I’m going to have to start from scratch.”

  “I’m so sorry!” I said. “I told you I’m no good at woodwork! I could ruin a tree with a thumbtack if—”

  He was grinning at me.

  “You were joking,” I said, slapping him on the arm. “Don’t do that!”

  He held up his hands, multicolored with paint.

  “Sorry,” he said. “I couldn’t resist. You did great.”

  I pouted and blew him a raspberry.

  He was surprised by my outburst and shook his head. I wondered what he was thinking. Gosh, he was handsome.

  “So, what’s this building I just installed?” I said.

  “A builder’s yard,” he said. “The one in town was built last week.”

  “Last week?” I said. “How do you know this is what it looks like?”

  “I like to creep among the villagers when I can,” Kal said. “I never used to need a disguise before. I’m… not well-liked at the moment.”

  “Because you didn’t light the beacon?” I said. “Because you didn’t send them to war to die?”

  “Because I wouldn’t fight for their honor as Titans.”

  He smiled but it was sad.

  “Look, I can’t pretend to understand how a Titan thinks,” I said, “but given the choice between life and death, I would always choose life. No matter how much honor I had.”

  “To a Titan, honor is life.”

  “If you take someone’s life away, do they still have honor?”

  “Yes.”

  “And if they have no honor, can they still get honor later?”

  His eyes moved to the side.

  “Yes,” he said.

  “Then it’s always better to be alive because you can do honorable things, right?”

  Kal smiled and my panties melted.

  “You make an interesting point,” he said.

  An interesting point didn’t mean he agreed with me.

  What did I expect? For him to immediately change how he thought just because I made a good point?

  Change took time. Unfortunately. And I didn’t have a whole lot left.

  Kal looked at me earnestly. The look made my knees shake.

  “Tell me, are all human females so clever a
s you?” he said.

  “I’m not very clever,” I said. “I’m about average.”

  Or maybe even a little below average. I vowed never to show him my grade point average.

  “I disagree,” Kal said, lifting my chin with his finger. “I think you are a very special woman indeed.”

  Those words.

  From this male.

  This close.

  With that body…

  Gulp.

  Things felt so different between us. Closer. More intimate.

  Why was that?

  Because I knew about one of his deepest secrets. His deceased wife.

  I couldn’t imagine the pain and suffering he must have felt at losing her. I’d never lost someone that close to me before. I lost my parents and brother when I was very young but I was just a baby. Still, I thought of them from time to time. My birthdays mostly. I hoped they were happy and safe wherever they were now.

  Me knowing about his wife wasn’t the only thing that was different though, was it?

  We were in a tiny room at the top of the tallest tower.

  Alone.

  And the hungry look in his eye…

  It made me want to see if there was more behind it.

  “Don’t you want to be at your birthday party?” I said.

  “They won’t notice I’m gone,” he said, his eyes focused on mine.

  Boy, he looked good. And we were tucked away in that tiny room, away from prying eyes. We could do anything and no one would ever know about it. We could scream and shout and no one would come running…

  “I never got to give you my present,” I said, my voice hoarse in my dry throat.

  Was I really doing this?

  “You don’t need to get me anything,” he said.

  But I already was giving him something, I realized. Something to look at. He barely took his eyes off me.

  “I think it’s only right I give you something,” I said. “You are hosting me in this castle. I want to sing for you. Just for you.”

  He smiled. Why was it the hottest guys always looked so good no matter what expression was on their face? I was already turning slick down below.

  “Okay,” he said. “What will you sing?”

  “It’s your birthday,” I said. “So, I’ll sing Happy Birthday.”