Rax

by Maia Starr

  “I don't understand why you are doing this. I didn't ask for this,” Maria said.

  “Sometimes our fate is not in our hands. You must just go along with what life throws at you,” I said as I looked over my shoulder at her and smiled.

  “What kind of bullshit answer is that?” she yelled at me. I laughed. I liked her a lot. It was too bad that I was putting her in danger, but there was nothing that I could do about it. It was out of necessity. I would take care of her and make sure that nothing happened to her—at least nothing that she couldn't bounce back from.

  “Oh my God, is that space?” she yelled.

  In front of us out of the windshield, the purple of the night sky of Earth turned into complete black.

  “Yes, we have exited the atmosphere of Earth. We are in space. We are making a path for my home planet several galaxies away,” I said to her as I typed in the coordinates for my home planet of Kelon. The path would take us conveniently by a space station occupied by the opposition.

  “No way. I never thought I would see this. This is unbelievable. It is absolutely beautiful. I can't believe this is real,” she said, and I could hear a bit of a tremor in her voice. I looked over my shoulder at her. There was a tear going down her cheek. I was touched by her emotion. The view of space was moving to her, that was promising. It meant that perhaps she would find the beauty of my planet moving as well. Deep in her heart it was obvious that she wanted to see something other than Earth, or it would not have moved her so.

  “Yes, space is dark and beautiful. You will see many things on the way to my planet. Things that you thought never existed in the universe. But when we get to my planet you will see just how beautiful it is. Nothing on Earth can compare, I know I have been to Earth many times.”

  She gasped. “What do you mean? You have been to Earth many times? Why? Why do you come to Earth?”

  “There is a lot to explain. There is time for me to explain later. For now, let us concentrate on safely leaving your solar system,” I said as I concentrated on the controls. I sent a message to Ravinn back on Kelon, letting him know the status of my mission. We had forty-eight hours before we would be in that dangerous zone.

  CHAPTER THREE

  MARIA COVALLOS

  What was I supposed to think of all this? He was a male alien that had told me I was going to breed with him. What do you do after you have been told that? I had lost all control of the situation, not that I was ever in control to begin with. What would Claudia think when she finally woke up and found that I was gone? Would I ever return to Earth? All of these questions were going around like crazy in my head. It was absolutely mind-blowing. But to top it off I was in this situation, practically naked. I was still in my damn yellow bikini with wet hair and bare feet.

  “Um, Mr. Alien guy, it is cold as hell on this spaceship,” I said. Not a sentence I ever thought I’d hear myself say.

  “You can call me Cerik,” he laughed.

  “Cerik, I am very cold. I'm practically naked.”

  He stood up from the pilot chair and walked toward me. He looked at me up and down and had a grin on his face. He was still absolutely gorgeous, even shifted out of his Dragon form.

  “I kind of like you like this. Wearing what you are wearing,” he said.

  “I bet you do. But I am cold and wet,” I said annoyed by the way he was looking at me. It was having an effect on my body. I felt myself becoming aroused. I could feel my nipples, which were already hard from the cold, but with his look, I felt like they were about to burst out of the material.

  “I have the clothing that the human females wear on my planet. I will grab it for you,” he said as he walked over to a wall and opened a panel.

  “Humans on your planet? How many humans are there? What the hell is going on?” I said feeling very confused.

  “You will learn in time what I mean,” he said as he handed me a folded blue fabric. I unfolded it. It was a long dress, but it was sheer. I looked at him. “Are you serious? This isn't clothing.”

  “On my planet it is.” He smiled as he placed soft sandals at my feet. He kneeled down in front of me. I sucked in a sharp breath of air. What was he doing? He grabbed my right foot in his hand.

  “Such small and delicate feet,” he said. His touch sent a fire through my foot up my leg. It was a very intimate thing to do. I knew I should kick him away, but for some reason I was enjoying it. I felt shameful that I was enjoying it. Then he grabbed the sandal and put it on my foot. Then he repeated the action on my left foot. He stood up and looked at me. He had that arrogant grin on his face again.

  “Maria, I am very impressed with your body. Touching you makes me hard,” he said.

  My eyes widened. “I don't care what it does. Don't touch me again without my permission.”

  He laughed. He moved to the wall panel and pulled out a thicker cloth and handed it to me. “That is to dry your hair. It is cold in space. But I will do what I can to warm the ship. If you want, later I am sure that I can warm your body in other ways too.”

  I knew exactly what he meant. Suddenly a vision of him lying on top of me with his strong body sent warmth through me. I had to shake the vision away from my mind.

  “No, that will not be necessary,” I said.

  “Maybe you will change your mind later,” he said.

  I grabbed the seat restraints and tried to unbuckle them. They were nothing like seat belts on Earth, and I was struggling.

  “Allow me. This is how you do it,” he said as he showed me how to take the belt off. He was leaning over me, and I could smell his manliness. It was very intoxicating. He was very close to me, and I could feel the heat radiating off of his body.

  “Now you are free to stand,” he said to me. He was standing very close to me. If I stood up, I would only be an inch from his body.

  “Can I have some room, please,” I said to him.

  “Yes, if you like. But there is no point in resisting me. We will be mates soon; you might as well become familiar with my body now. I see the way you look at me. I know you want to touch me. I know that you are curious,” he took a couple of steps back but was not giving me that much room at all.

  “I am not looking at you. I am not checking you out,” I lied.

  He laughed at me as though he knew that I was struggling through the lie. I stood up and was shaky for a moment. I had never been on a spaceship before. I pulled the sheer dress over my body. Surprisingly it was very warm, keeping my body heat in. Even though it was sheer, it felt better than wearing just my bikini. I took the other cloth and rubbed it through my wet hair, drying it off. I felt better now that I had shoes on, and clothes. I didn't feel as vulnerable.

  “So this is it? You are just going to abduct me from Earth and force me to be your mate? That is what I am to expect?” I said, putting my hands on my hips.

  “You can expect an adventure,” he said as he smiled and move to another area of the ship. A wall panel opened and there were shelves of water and food.

  “Get some nourishment. All of this is safe for a human to eat and drink. Help yourself. I mean to check on the flight path and console,” he said as he moved back to the pilot chair and went to work. I was very thirsty. All the drinking of the night and shouting had made me dehydrated and my throat hoarse. I opened a jug and smelled it. It was water. I drank from it. It was the most delicious and refreshing water I had ever had in my life. It tasted pure and clean. I looked at the food, not knowing what to eat. I was hungry after drinking so much. I grabbed what look like fruit and bit into it. It was very crisp and good. It reminded me of a mango, only better. I leaned against the wall and looked at Cerik. He was unlike any male I had ever met. He was very arrogant and confident, but for some reason, I found it charming. I knew that I should not, but I could not help myself. I did not want to admit that his desire for my body type made me want him. I wanted this alien, and I knew that it was wrong. I hated him for taking me from Earth and for being so damn conceited. But at the
same time, my body was very attracted to him. It was as though my mind harbored hate for him and my body had lust for him. It was a very confusing and complex feeling. I was beginning to feel very tired even though there was an enormous amount of adrenaline rushing through me. How could I sleep when I was with an alien on an alien ship? But the long heat of the desert day, plus swimming, plus the outing to the dancehall had only added to the exhaustion of finding out that aliens did exist, and then being abducted by one. It was a lot to take in and I was beginning to feel heavy and fatigued.

  “Cerik?” I said, moving to the windshield. The dark beauty of space was impossible to fathom. It was awe-inspiring.

  “Yes, Maria?” he asked.

  “I want to make it very clear that I hate you. I am not your friend. I am not going to be your mate. But since I am stuck with you until I somehow get back to Earth, I just want to make my rules very clear.”

  “What rules?” he asked as though he was in complete disbelief that I would even say such a thing.

  “My rules are that you do not touch me without my permission. When we arrived on your planet, you will take me to whomever is in charge. I am sure that you are not in charge of an entire planet or you wouldn't be going to Earth alone. You will take me to whomever is in charge, and I will ask to be taken back to Earth. Until then, we are not friends. I hate you for all purposes because you have taken me without my permission.”

  “Those rules are ridiculous,” he said with a laugh.

  “Laugh if you want to, but those are my rules. Also, I am very tired. I need to sleep. You will not touch me while I sleep,” I said to him.

  “That I can help you with,” he said and stood up from the chair. He was very tall, and every time he stood it shocked me, as though seeing him for the first time. His big clunky boots that had weapons strapped to them made a sound as he walked to the very back of the spaceship. I followed him. He opened a panel, and a cushioned bench came down.

  “Here you are, Maria,” he said to me.

  I did not feel the need to say thank you. I was never going to say thank you to him. He was my enemy. He was an alien that abducted me, taking me from my home and my life. He was a jerk, and I was only going to put up with his presence as long as I had to. I climbed onto the bed and laid down. I heard a soft moan come from Cerik as he stood there watching me. I suddenly felt my body respond to him once more. I hated my body for that. His moan was sexy and deep and stirred something within me. It felt good to be looked at in this way, especially after the insults that I experienced hours before. It wasthe complete opposite experience to have this extremely attractive male look at me with desire.

  “Don't you have work to do? Shouldn't you be watching where we are headed? I don't want to crash before I can get to whomever is in charge,” I said in my most angry tone.

  He grinned at me again. I knew that my anger was having the opposite effect. It was actually turning him on. He found it amusing. That only made me angrier, damn it.

  Cerik finally peeled his eyes away from me and moved to the front of the ship again. He took a seat in the pilot chair and began to fiddle with buttons and levers. I stared at him, watching him to make sure he did not come back over to me. But my eyes were beginning to close. I struggled to keep awake. Before I knew it, I was in a very deep sleep.

  When I opened my eyes, I looked up at a stark white ceiling. I forgot where I was. It took me a minute to fully wake up and then panic hit me. Shit, I was on a spaceship with an alien! I rolled onto my side and looked toward the windshield of the ship. Cerik Was still in the seat. I wondered how long I had slept? I had no concept of time. Did he sleep at all? I sat up and looked around. Everything looked the same. I put my feet on the ground and then stood up and stretched. I walked to the windshield area and sat in a seat next to him. He looked over at me and then back at his work.

  “How long was I asleep?” I asked him.

  “A long time. A full night almost,” he said.

  “Did you sleep?” I asked.

  He turned to me and smiled. “Are you concerned with my well-being? You are concerned if I get enough rest? You like me; admit it.”

  I rolled my eyes at him. “I am only asking because you are doing the driving. You need to be alert to fly this ship, don't you?” I asked. I did not want to admit to him that I was concerned. I did not want to like him.

  “Yes and no. It has an autopilot feature and does most of the work on its own once the coordinates are in. There are alarms to wake me up if the radar picks up anything. I did sleep a couple of hours off and on.”

  “Where?” I said, feeling panicked that he had climbed into bed with me and I did not notice.

  “I stretched out on the floor,” he said, smiling at me as though he knew that I wondered if he slept with me.

  Beep. Beep. A noise echoed inside the ship. I noticed him get tense and sit up straight in the chair. I looked out the windshield but did not see anything.

  “What is it?”

  “We are entering a danger zone,” he said in a very serious tone. I had not heard him sound so serious in the short time that I knew him. All of his words were always delivered with a hint of arrogance and sensuality, but now he was very soldier-like. It was an interesting change, but it also put me on edge.

  “Danger zone? Like a meteor shower or something?” I asked looking around into the blackness of space. I did not see anything.

  “No, as in the possibility of being captured,” he said.

  My eyes grew wide with fear. “Captured. What? You are kidding, right? Captured by whom?”

  “By Draqua like me, but Draqua that are my enemy.”

  “Oh my god. That is a very scary thought. Dragons fighting dragons. Why would they capture us? I don’t understand.”

  “You don’t need to understand. Just know that we are in danger and I need to stay alert,” he said.

  “What can I do?” I asked.

  “Nothing. Just stay calm. I don’t need any distractions,” he said.

  I became very quiet. I did not want to distract him. Something told me that these other Draqua were not to be messed with. I didn’t feel like it would be a good thing to be captured by them. But if we were, would they take me back to Earth? I looked at Cerik. What if he was the bad guy in this situation and the other Draqua were the good guys? At least as far as a human like me was concerned. Perhaps they would be on my side and take me back to Earth. Or I could be wrong, and they could sell me into some sort of space slavery. Ugh, I was panicking at the thought of all of it. My heart was beating rapidly, and my stomach was hurting. I grabbed the seat belt on the seat and strapped myself in. I was worried that out of nowhere the ship would be hit by a blast or need to maneuver in sharp ways.

  “That’s a good idea. Best to be prepared,” he said as he followed my lead and strapped himself in as well.

  “What will happen if they capture us?” I asked.

  “I don’t know. They will take us aboard their ship and either kill us or take us to their base. I really don’t know,” he said with a deadly, serious tone.

  “Kill us! But why?” I said in shock.

  “They don’t like my kind of Draqua, and they don’t like humans. They want our planet to be rid of humans,” he said.

  “Oh shit,” I said.

  “Yes, exactly.”

  I took a minute to process his words. So as far as I was concerned, Cerik was the good guy in this situation. Yes, it was horrible that he wanted me to be his mate, but these other Draqua would want me dead. That was far worse. We stayed quiet as he flew through this area he called the danger zone. I was on the edge of my seat in fear. My leg bounced up and down in a nervous twitch as I watched every inch of the windshield in front of us waiting for the Draqua pirates to catch us. We were quiet and tense for more than an hour, and I could barely stand it anymore and thought I was going to pee my pants.

  “Is there a washroom on this ship? A toilet?” I asked not knowing if these aliens knew what t
hat was, but since he mentioned he lived with humans, there had to be something like it.

  “Yes. Where the bed is, to the right, press on the panel and it will open into a room,” he said.

  I unbuckled the belt and walked to the back of the ship. I stood next to the bed and ran my hands along the wall and pressed. The panel door popped out of the wall. I opened it, and there was a spacious room behind it. I walked in and closed the door behind me. I was glad for the privacy and for the toilet. I used the toilet and then washed my hands and splashed water on my face. It was all that I could do to refresh myself and shake me out of my disbelief. “Okay, Maria, this is really happening. Deal with it,” I whispered to myself. But I didn’t know exactly what I was in for.