The Alien's Mystery (Uoria Mates IV Book 7)

by Ruth Anne Scott

  Aubrey felt him lower her onto the table and realized that he had reached around to spread her lab coat across it so that she didn’t touch the cold metal. He positioned her so that she sat at the edge and took his mouth away from hers. He brought his hands to the front of her blouse and pulled it out of the hem of her skirt, tearing away at the fabric until the buttons popped and she felt the cool air of the lab brush against her skin. She heard Jonah groan low in his throat as her lavender lace bra came into view. Her body was fuller, softer than she wanted it to be and she was often self-conscious about it, but the way that Jonah looked at her took away the negative emotions and made her feel lush and beautiful. The way his eyes roved over her and the depth of his breath made it obvious that he appreciated everything that he was seeing, and she was eager to allow him more. She wanted him to explore her fully and to allow her to explore him in return.

  She slid off of the table and reached behind her hips to ease the zipper of her skirt down, rolling her hips as she guided the fabric down. Jonah pushed the blouse back off of her shoulders as she let the skirt fall away. Giving her another long look, he reached up and took the clip out of her hair, allowing the long strands to tumble free around her shoulders. There was a pause and Aubrey worried for a moment that he was going to stop. She was terrified that the reality was going to hit him and that he was going to walk away from her, leaving her cold and alone in the lab. Instead, Jonah took her by her hips and picked her up, placing her back on the edge of the table and easing her thighs apart so that he could step in between them.

  Aubrey brought her fingers to his belt buckle and released it as he pulled the hem of his shirt out of his waistband and started to pull it up over his head. As she moved her hands away from his now-open belt, he pulled the shirt completely off and toss it aside. Jonah cupped the back of her head with one hand and captured her mouth again, kissing her as if he couldn’t stand even a few moments without the taste of her in his mouth or the feel of her skin beneath his hands. She continued to undress him as he kissed her, losing herself in the rush of undying need that seemed to surge higher with every passing beat of her heart. Jonah’s free hand slipped around her waist and up her back. It touched her bra and she felt him slide it around to cup her breast, then trace the lower swell, taking his time as if to appreciate every second of touching her. When he was finished, he brought his hand around to her back again, coming to the hook of her bra and flicking it open. The lace fell away from her breasts and he peeled it away slowly, revealing her to himself reverently. Cool air touched her nipples and she pressed them toward him in search of his touch.

  Jonah rested his hand to the center of her chest and gently pressed her back. He applied light pressure, sliding his hand down between her breasts and onto her stomach. Aubrey arched in response to the touch and her belly trembled with the presence of his hand. Suddenly she felt Jonah's mouth close down over one of her taut nipples. The feeling of his warm mouth suckling her, his tongue sliding around her nipple and each suck drawing the flesh deeper, was so enrapturing that she barely registered his hands coming to the waistband of her the lacy panties that matched her bra and peeling them away. When she became aware of the tug around her thighs, she lifted one leg higher and allowed Jonah to slip that leg of her panties off of her foot, then repeated the process on the other side until she was completely bare beneath him.

  After a few more moments of worship, his mouth left Aubrey’s breast as Jonah dropped to his knees beside the table. He pushed her thighs apart and Aubrey felt his tongue delve into her folds. She cried out in surprise as the tip of his tongue flicked across her clit. She hadn’t expected him to be as confident and forward, and every new touch was enthralling. Her hips lifted up off of the table as she instinctively strained toward the delectable sensation, but Jonah's hand came up to press down on her lower belly, holding her down so that he could continue with his delicious torment. Aubrey’s head tilted back and her mouth fell open but no sound came out. All she could do was reach down to grip his thick hair and roll her hips luxuriously against his mouth.

  She felt like she was spiraling toward oblivion but instead of letting her tumble over the edge, Jonah gave a final long lick and climbed to his feet. Aubrey lifted her head in time to see him drop his pants to the floor and kick them aside. She drank in the intoxicating sight of his chiseled body, thankful for every moment of work that had gone into crafting his incredible beauty. As quickly and urgently as he had moved up until this moment, now he seemed to have slowed and became meticulous with each movement. He stood straight in front of her and ran his hands slowly from her hips down her thighs as he admired her.

  Aubrey felt vulnerable and on display, but in a way that made her feel desired and beautiful. Jonah leaned over her, his chest brushing over her tight nipples and sending a thrill of sensation down through her body until it settled between her legs. His mouth met hers and she felt the slick head of his thick, hard erection nudge against her core. Jonah rocked his hips a few times to tease her sensitive peak, and then settled at her opening. She opened her eyes and met his. She wanted him to see the sincerity and sureness in her gaze as she drew her knees back to open herself to him more. The movement caused him to dip inside her just slightly and they both drew in sharp breaths.

  Jonah touched the side of her face and traced his fingers along the curve of her jaw, then along her lips. She kissed his fingertips and he cupped his hand around her face so that the heel of his hand settled against her cheek and his fingers buried in her hair. He let out a breath and she felt him rock his hips forward, sinking into her. Aubrey had never felt so perfectly filled. It was as though her body had been designed for Jonah and she had been waiting her entire life to cradle him this way. The tightness of her body made it so that he couldn’t move as deep within her as she would have wanted him to, and she focused on drawing in and releasing breaths to quiet and calm her body so that it could accept him more. He paused for just a moment as her walls relaxed around him and she felt him slide deeper. Her body continued to ease until his hips settled against hers, and she felt his hips starting to move. They rolled just as hers had against his mouth as he had nurtured and coaxed her with his tongue, stroking him deeply within her. She wrapped her arms around his back and gripped him tightly to her, closing her legs around his hips to keep them as closely together as she could manage.

  Now that she fully enveloped him, Jonah thrust into her relentlessly, his speed and intensity increasing until his grunts and groans filled the space. She couldn't help but let small whimpers slip past her lips with every hard stroke, and soon her mouth fell open and she released a loud, gasping cry. Suddenly she felt him press as deeply inside her as he could and his deliciously engorged cock pulsed. Aubrey opened her eyes and looked into his face. His eyes were squeezed shut as he bit down on his lip as if to hold back a roar of pleasure. The thought of him spilling into her sent Aubrey tumbling headlong into her own climax and she cried out, pulling him closer to her while savoring the feeling of her body's spasms meeting each of his pulses and drawing him ever deeper inside of her.

  Aubrey clung to him as she rode the final waves of her orgasm and then felt the rush slowly draining from her body. As the energy and adrenaline that she had been feeling since the moment that he first touched her started to slip away, it felt as though clarity was returning to her mind. What had she done? She couldn’t believe that she had given into her urges like that. She barely knew this man, and even though she had been attracted to him since the first moment that she laid eyes on him in the lab, the reality of his situation made it so that allowing herself to lose herself in her hormones was not only utterly inappropriate, but potentially dangerous. She couldn’t do this. She couldn’t even pretend to entertain the idea that he would be around for a moment longer than it would take him to figure out what was going on and to arrange to reunite with the rest of the crew. And even if he would…would she want him to? There was too much at stake. For Earth. For the women. F
or Uoria and its inhabitants. For her. She didn’t know if she had it in her to face those kinds of emotions again. Not now. Not yet. Maybe not ever.

  She felt Jonah trying to guide her back into his arms as she started to pull away from him, but she shook her head and pushed his hands away from her.

  “I’m sorry,” she said. “I need to go.”

  “What?” Jonah asked, stepping reluctantly out of her way as she slid down off of the side of the table and started gathering her clothes. “Where are you going?”

  Aubrey wriggled into her skirt as fast as she could and then slipped back into her blouse.

  “I shouldn’t have…” she stumbled. “This was….” She remembered that the buttons on the front of her blouse had been torn off in their frantic desire for each other, and she reached for her lab coat. “I shouldn’t have let this happen.” She slipped it on and started buttoning it up to conceal her. “I’m sorry.”

  Jonah reached for her and grabbed her wrist. She pulled out of his hand and shook her head.

  “What’s wrong?” Jonah asked. “What happened?”

  Aubrey finished buttoning the coat and reached down to scoop her heels and keys up off of the floor. She wanted to get away from him as quickly as she could and didn’t want the shoes to slow her down. Her eyes stung as she turned away from Jonah and ran out of the lab, not allowing herself to even glance back over her shoulder at him. She knew that she would never be able to see him again and she didn’t want the last moment that she saw him to be with the look of hurt and confusion that would correspond with what she heard in his voice. The door to the lab slamming behind her was deafening as she ran down the corridor, forcing herself to get out of the building before she let the tears fall.

  Chapter Eight

  Athan held his torch higher above his head to cast more of the light through the buildings of the kingdom. He swept it back and forth, trying to illuminate as much space as possible. There was a sense of fear in his chest, but he was doing everything that he could to suppress it. He had gone through this much to get back here, he had to keep himself as strong and under control as possible. The further that he walked, though, the more that the fear was building within him.

  “Ellora?” he called out in an elevated whisper.

  He didn’t want to shout and disrupt those who he knew were sleeping in their homes, but he also felt like just walking around the kingdom wasn’t enough to look for Ellora. He hadn’t seen her since she had brought the weapons up from the war room to her kitchen and then rushed out of the house. Too much time had passed and he was starting to worry about her. She had gone into a frenzy and didn’t seem to be thinking clearly when she was gathering the weapons, and he was afraid that that had put her in danger. With her mindset where it was when she found out that Aegeus was still alive and started preparing for the return trip to Penthos, she could have been capable of doing anything.

  Having covered all of the main village of the kingdom and not finding Ellora, he started back toward Ellora’s house. Maybe he had simply missed her. Maybe she had gone for a walk to work through the thoughts that she had to be facing with all of the new information that was coursing through her brain and then decided to go back to her home to relax for the evening. It was the time of night when she would usually sit down with a cup of coffee and read through one of her favorite books that she kept tucked on the shelf beside her chair in the main parlor of her home. There had been many nights that he had visited her at this time, wanting to sit in the same room with her just so that she would know that she was not alone. She had never asked him to be there or even commented that it helped her, but he could see the look of appreciation in her eyes each time that he walked into the house and then the hesitation when it was time for him to leave.

  Athan arrived back at Ellora’s house and felt his stomach sink as he saw that there were no lights burning in the windows and no sound coming from inside. He tried the front door and found that it was locked. Walking around the back of the house, he tried the door that she had used earlier and easily opened it. Inside, the home was still and quiet. He held his torch up and let the light fall throughout the kitchen. Immediately the illumination fell across the pile of weapons that she had made on the table and Athan’s heart sank. He knew that she was gathering those weapons to bring them to the warriors, the Mikana army, and Creia so that they could learn how to use them and then put them on the ship for the return to Penthos. If she had returned home since leaving, she would have brought those weapons to them, or had one of them come to her home to get them. There was no reason for them to be still be sitting there in the kitchen.

  “Ellora?” he called into the house.

  Even though he knew that it was futile to call for her, he couldn’t help but give it at least one chance. It was possible that she had come home with the full intention of delivering the weapons or having one of the warriors or army come to get them, and then suffered some accident or injury that kept her from getting back into the kitchen. The war room was designed to protect the weapons and the plans that Aegeus had, and no one knew what he could have put in place there to ensure that they didn’t fall into the wrong hands. She could have accidentally triggered a defensive system or even fallen victim to one of the weapons that were kept there, and was waiting for someone to find her.

  Still calling for her every few steps, Athan explored the rest of the house. He ventured into each of the rooms, examining every inch carefully to make sure that she wasn’t there. Finally, he went down into the war room. As he descended the stairs, his eyes fell on the symbol for Aegeus’s father and then Aegeus himself. They sent a chill along Athan’s spine and his steps quickened. When he got down into the hidden room, he examined each wall and the floor carefully, hoping to detect any abnormalities that might have indicated a trap or defense system, but he didn’t see anything. The weapon room was still standing open and he could see that there were still weapons hanging from the walls and sitting on the tables. He knew that she hadn’t been there.

  Athan rushed out of the house, determined to find her. He could hear voices coming from the opposite direction that he had initially walked, toward the official buildings on the other side of the kingdom from the homes. He ran toward them, at the same time cursing himself for not even considering going to the official buildings to look for Ellora and feeling a lift of hopefulness that this was where he was going to find her. Perhaps she had gone to talk to Rey to find out more about his plans for going to Penthos with the others, or to see Creia to talk to him about training his warriors with the Mikana weapons that were so different from those that the Denynso were accustomed to using. She could have even gone back to the infirmary to see Kyven and check on his condition.

  Athan felt silly for the fear that he had been feeling as he made his way toward the voices. It had been ridiculous of him to think only of the section of the village that held the homes and not the other half. When he was looking for her, he hadn’t even considered the other half. As soon as he had passed all of the homes and was nearing the orchards, he felt that he had looked everywhere possible. Now he was embarrassed and felt foolish for all of the thoughts that had been going through his mind.

  As he approached the meeting hall, he saw a crowd had gathered and Creia and Rey were standing on the steps looking down at them. It seemed that the Denynso king had been giving some sort of speech but was finished now and was instead answering questions from those standing before him. Athan scanned the crowd, but didn’t see Ellora’s face. He paused for a moment to listen to the questions that were being asked.

  “When do we leave?” someone asked.

  “As soon as possible,” Creia said. “There are still some preparations to be made. We are awaiting the arrival of further reinforcements from the human settlement and the bakers and nurturers are working as fast as they can to prepare food for the journey and for our time on Penthos. We’ll work tirelessly until we are ready to leave.”

  “What will
the battle be like?” another asked. “Is there any word about their fighting techniques or how we will organize attacks?”

  “We know only a small amount about the fighting approach of the hybrids, but I am confident in the skill of our warriors, all of them from all species. Tomorrow we will begin training drills and continue to train until the preparations are finished. I will provide more information about what we know then.”

  “What about the weapons that Maxim told us to gather?” the man continued. “He was very specific that we get the weapons that his father had put aside for the war. Has anyone done that?”

  Creia nodded.

  “I am anticipating receiving those weapons soon,” he said. “Ellora and Athan will remove them from the war room and ensure that they are in place for us.”

  Athan lifted his torch high into the air to catch Creia’s attention.

  “Creia,” he called up to the Denynso king.

  The crowd parted to allow Athan to get closer to the steps and he looked up at the Denynso king.

  “Yes, Athan? Is everything alright?”

  “Have you seen Ellora?” Athan asked.

  “No,” Creia said. “I haven’t seen her since she left the infirmary earlier with you.”

  Athan nodded.

  “Alright,” he said. “Thank you.”

  He started away from the crowd, but Creia called out to him.

  “Is something wrong?” he asked.

  Athan looked back at him, forcing his expression to remain calm. He didn’t want to alarm anyone while he still didn’t know what was happening. There was nothing that they could do even if they knew. He shook his head.

  “I was just gathering those weapons that you were talking about and I needed to ask her something, but she had stepped out. I’m just looking for her.”

  Creia nodded.

  “If I see her, I will let her know that you are looking for her,” he said.