Fallen from the Stars

by Tiffany Roberts

  He followed her before she was too far ahead and attempted, with only minor success, to turn his focus back to keeping watch. Part of his mind continued racing.

  Somehow, her reaction had made him want her more. In the end, it was the female’s choice — he would not deny Theo that right — but he was determined to make himself the only reasonable choice.

  Chapter 6

  “He wants to have sex with me, Kane!” Theo whispered. Rising from her crouch slightly, she peered over the pod’s hatch opening. Vasil was outside building a fire on the sand. She ducked down quickly.

  “I guess it’s time for your daily reminder that you do not have to speak out loud, Theo,” Kane said through their neural link.

  “My mind is a little overwhelmed right now, you know, what with a kraken wanting to have sex with me,” she hissed, leaning her back against the pod’s inner wall. “He’s got tentacles, Kane! Tentacles!”

  “All the better to love you with.”

  She could almost hear the smirk in Kane’s voice.

  “Are you kidding? Please tell me you’re kidding.” She ran her fingers through her hair and groaned as she recalled the feel of Vasil’s fingers brushing over her arm and the sensation it had elicited. She’d been turned on. By a…an alien!

  “Don’t pretend you haven’t been checking him out, Theodora. You’re not exactly subtle about it.”

  “What?”

  “I see through your eyes, Theo,” Kane said. “I can tell when you’re focusing on his chest and abs.”

  “I was just curious! Nothing wrong with a little curiosity. It doesn’t mean anything!”

  “Is this what you’re hiding from?” Kane asked. An image appeared on her retinal display — Vasil’s chest, muscles stretching and flexing as Kane replayed the short video on a loop.

  “I can’t believe you right now!” Theo forced the image away with a mental command and squeezed her eyes shut, but it didn’t help.

  Her imagination picked up where Kane had left off, showing her the play of muscles in Vasil’s body as he moved with his strange, uneven gait. The mental image soon focused on something she’d noticed only briefly in person — a small slit at his pelvis where his skin seemed to have parted slightly. She had a strong suspicion of what hid beneath that slit. The thought was at once horrifying and intriguing.

  What did his cock look like? Pink and floppy, slimy and squirmy like an eel? She quickly shoved that thought out of her mind. Perhaps was it long, hard, and unyielding, the same gray as the rest of his skin? Would it be warm? Would it respond to her touch? Would it—

  “Fuuuuuuck.” Theo pressed her fingers against her eyelids as though that could erase the mental images she’d produced.

  She couldn’t tell over the sound of the nearby waves, not for sure, but she swore Kane was chuckling softly in her head.

  “This is well beyond the intentions of my programming,” he said through the link, “but we can work this out, Theo. Why not make a list? Pros and Cons.”

  “What are you talking about?” She dropped her hands and blinked as the dark spots swimming across her vision faded. “Pros and cons of what, Kane?”

  “You know. Reasons why you should and should not have alien tentacle sex.”

  Theo gaped, eyes sweeping over the floor without focusing on anything.

  “You’re serious?” She threw up her hands and rolled her eyes. “Of course you’re serious! Oh my God, I can’t believe you. He’s an alien, Kane! It hasn’t even been two days, and he wants sex and a relationship with me. A forever relationship, I might add.”

  “If we are to take him at his word, his genetic makeup is quite human. Half-human, I believe you said. We’re both wrong to call him an alien.”

  “Whose side are you on, anyway?” Theo asked. “So, what, am I supposed to jump his alien dick — whatever that looks like — and have his squiggly little babies? What about getting off this planet? Getting back to the fleet?”

  “I can’t tell you what to do in this situation. I don’t even have a body. Silly for you to look to me for sexual advice.”

  “Kane, seriously. Please.”

  “I know, I know. Really, though, I can’t tell you what to do. If it doesn’t feel right, don’t. The immunoboosters the IDC injected you with will kill off any squiggly diseases he might have, and you were signed up for a ten-year stint. IDC protocol means your implant is going to prevent you from getting pregnant for three more years — one month after the end of your service. As for getting out of here…you don’t have the parts to repair the comm array in the pod. There are no satellites. The chances of getting any sort of message out there are so low they might as well be non-existent.”

  Theo closed her eyes and tilted her head back. She’d known this, but she hadn’t wanted to admit defeat so soon. She’d only been here for two days; that didn’t seem long enough to just give up.

  What did she really have to back to, though? Solitude in the bowels of another ship, long stretches of silence broken only by the clank of tools and the steady hum of machinery, and bland, pasty food?

  She dropped onto her backside with a sigh. “So…I guess this is it.”

  “Apart from the occasional carnivorous plant, this planet doesn’t seem all that bad,” Kane said gently. “And Vasil says there are other humans. That means you’re not going to be alone.”

  “Worked my ass off for years and this is what I get.” Theo opened her eyes and looked around her. If there were no functioning satellites in orbit, and the humans had colonized this planet hundreds of years ago, this escape pod was very likely the most advanced piece of technology in the world. Just how far behind were the inhabitants of Halora?

  What the hell was Theo supposed to do? She knew next to nothing about surviving in the wilds.

  “Theo?” Vasil called from outside the pod.

  She groaned.

  “You can’t hide forever,” Kane said in her mind.

  “I’m not hiding,” she said, shifting onto her knees. “I was just…taking a moment for myself.”

  That wasn’t really a lie; she’d changed out of her under suit into the sleeveless shirt and pants she’d cut from her uniform.

  “My mistake.” If Kane oozed any more sarcasm, Theo would drown in it.

  “Ass.”

  “Theo?” Vasil repeated.

  “One sec!” she called.

  “And you are a beautiful, intelligent, independent woman. Go to your octo-man.”

  “Oh my God, you’re impossible!” she whisper-growled.

  Theo grabbed one of the water containers and pushed herself onto her feet. Turning, she leaned against the edge of the opening and looked down at Vasil, who had twisted away from the fire to face her. Their gazes met. His eyes were beautiful, even from this distance — like liquid silver, so bright and clear that part of her mind insisted they couldn’t be real. After a few moments, his attention dipped to take in her torso, and a flare of desire sparked in the depths of his eyes.

  Her heartbeat quickened, and heat flooded her; she’d experienced the same sensations at the stream earlier.

  Though she’d known Vasil had been on the bank, watching her as she emerged from the water, she hadn’t bothered to cover herself. She’d done nothing to hide. Theo had let him look his fill, and she liked the aroused fires that had gleamed in his eyes. She couldn’t remember another time when she’d felt so empowered, so sensual, so…wanted. It had sparked a longing inside her that had yet to diminish.

  Kane’s voice drifted to her through the neural link. “Those are interesting vital readings for someone who’s not interested…”

  She blasted a quick retort to him — Shut. Up.

  Clenching her teeth, Theo tucked the water container beneath her arm, turned, and carefully climbed out of the pod. She dropped the short distance to the ground, her bare feet sinking in the soft sand. The sea-kissed breeze swept over her, woven with the aroma of cooking meat.

  She swept her hair out of her
face with her free hand and approached Vasil. She’d just pretend their earlier conversation hadn’t happened.

  Yep. Easy. Totally didn’t happen.

  “Whatcha cooking?” she asked nonchalantly.

  Vasil glanced at her over his shoulder and smiled, displaying sharp teeth. He reached forward and picked up a stick, upon which was impaled a sizzling fillet. “Fish. Are you hungry?”

  Her mouth watered at the sight of the meat. “Starving.”

  Adjusting his hold on the stick, he turned it and offered her the uncharred end.

  “Thanks,” she said, accepting his offering. She walked to the opposite side of the fire and sat down facing him, standing the water container beside her. All she could do was hope the fire would be enough of a barrier between them to prevent her thoughts from straying into unwelcome territory.

  Vasil’s gaze remained fixated upon her, following her movements. There was something strange about the way he looked at her — like he could see into her, but his eyes held no judgment.

  “Are you feeling well?” he asked.

  “Yeah, why? Do I look sick or something?” Raising the stick, she blew on the hot fillet.

  “No. But you went into the pod the moment we returned and have been whispering to Kane ever since.”

  “And?” She tore off a chunk of fish off the stick with her teeth. The moment the flakey meat hit her tongue, she closed her eyes and moaned, chewing slowly.

  “You seemed distressed.”

  Theo waited until she’d swallowed before answering. “Nope, totally fine.”

  “You crashed on an alien world, were nearly killed in the jungle, have a kraken who wants you as his mate, and have no way to leave, but you are fine?”

  She glanced at him briefly before returning her attention to her food. “Already had my freak-outs. Now I’m just dealing with one problem at a time. No reason to worry about things I can’t do anything about, right?” She took another large bite.

  At the edge of her vision, she saw him staring at her. She felt naked under his scrutiny despite her clothing. Oddly, it wasn’t a bad feeling.

  “Should your response to my stated intentions be considered a freak-out?” he asked.

  “Where are the rest of your people?” she countered.

  Evade. Evade. Evade.

  “Elsewhere.”

  She looked up at him. “Nearby elsewhere or far away elsewhere?”

  Without breaking eye contact with her, he picked up the other stick, raised it to his mouth, and took a bite of the sizzling meat. If it burned him, he displayed no pain.

  Theo arched a brow. “Well, kraken?”

  He chewed slowly, deliberately, the muscles of his jaw flexing and relaxing. After he finally swallowed, his tongue slipped out and slid over his lips. Her eyes focused on it, and her hand clenched her stick as she imagined what his tongue would feel like against her skin.

  What the fuck is wrong with me?

  It’s been way too long. That’s all it is.

  “I can’t quite tell if you’re about to die, or you’re just horny,” Kane whispered in her mind.

  She sent a panicked reply through their link.

  What do you mean die, Kane?

  “I mean give your heart a break, or it’s going to burst through your ribcage, Theo. Just fuck him and get it over with, please.”

  Do you want to sleep? Cause I’ll totally put you to sleep.

  “You know what? I’m putting myself to sleep. Goodnight.”

  Despite everything, Theo’s lips curved into a grin, and she snickered.

  “Is Kane speaking in your head?” Vasil asked, jarring her back to reality.

  “He was, but he’s sleeping now.”

  “I cannot tell you where anyone else is, Theo.”

  Theo frowned. “Why not? I thought we were past that.”

  His lips fell into a frown to mirror her own, and a crease appeared at the center of his brow. He dropped his gaze to the sand and shifted in place, tentacles curling restlessly. “Because I do not know where here is.”

  “Are you saying you’re just as stranded as I am?”

  “I found your pod just as a storm swept in. There was no land in sight to gauge our location. We rode the storm out, and this is where it took us.”

  Theo lowered her stick, which she’d already picked clean of meat, and propped it against the stone ring Vasil had built around the fire.

  “But you have those,” she said, motioning to his tentacles. “You could just swim out there, right? Find your way back? It’s not like you’re stuck on land.”

  Not like I am.

  “I did not leave you in the sea, Theodora, and I will not abandon you here,” he said firmly. “I explored a bit this morning when I went for the fish, and I plan to go farther tomorrow.”

  Hearing him say he wouldn’t leave her here eased something inside her, a fear she hadn’t realized she’d been harboring. Though she was good at tricking herself into believing her own capabilities, into believing she could survive if it came down to it, she was scared at heart. She didn’t know what she was doing, much less what she was going to do.

  And…she didn’t want to be left alone.

  She dug her toes into the sand. “So, until then…”

  “It is only us.”

  “What do we do in the meantime? What can I do?”

  “This area is essentially our den. We make the most of it,” he said, twisting to look back over his shoulder at the pod. “We have prey to hunt and fruit to forage, and your pod will serve as adequate shelter.” He faced her again. “Many of the humans I know enjoy the beach. Do you?”

  Theo turned her head, looking past the fire to survey the beach’s pale sand and the cerulean ocean beyond. “I’ve never been on one until now. This is the first time I’ve been on land for more than a few hours in…eighteen years.”

  Had it really been that long since she left Old Earth?

  Vasil tilted his head back to look up at the open sky, which was darkening to gray-blue as evening deepened. “You were up there for all that time?” His voice brimmed with unmasked wonder.

  “Yeah. You get used to it, you know? The more time passes, the less you realize what you’re missing.” She shrugged her shoulders. “I didn’t have much to miss anyway. My experiences planet-side were…unpleasant.”

  “Planet-side?”

  Theo removed the cap — which doubled as a cup — from the container beside her and poured herself some water. “Yeah. It’s something IDC soldiers say. Just means on a world. We spend a lot of time in space, even the ones who do the fighting. Time on a planet feels almost like this mythological thing after a while, so it kinda needs its own designation to keep it separate.”

  Vasil returned his attention to her and leaned closer; she found herself both grateful for and resentful of the fire separating them.

  “What unpleasant experiences did you have?” he asked.

  Theo cradled the cup between her hands and watched the reflections on the water inside. “Shitty childhood.”

  Movement from the corner of her eye forced her attention up again. Her heart skipped a beat as Vasil used his tentacles to drag himself closer to her around the edge of the fire. When he stopped, there was less than a meter of distance between them, and two of his tentacles were stretched out toward Theo — one in front of her, one behind. Neither limb touched her, but they were so close.

  “My understanding of what those words mean to humans is limited,” he said. “The meanings they hold for me are shaped by my experiences, which were very different from yours. Will you tell me more, Theo?”

  She studied his expression silently, searching his eyes. Desire lingered within them, but it was the interest in his gaze that caught her attention. He genuinely wanted to hear more. He wanted to know her. If Vasil were human, she would’ve had sex with him without a second thought — she could see the potential for a real relationship in his eyes, and it called to her, speaking to what she’d wante
d for so long. But there were so many differences between the two of them…

  Could she really overlook them? Could she just fuck him and get it over with, as Kane had suggested?

  She’d had a few hookups over the many years she’d been off-planet, but none of them stood out in her mind. She could barely remember their faces, much less their names. None of them had bothered to get to know her. They hadn’t cared. For a long time, she’d told herself she hadn’t cared, either. She’d been just as guilty of using others to scratch an itch and move on, but those couplings had left her feeling unsettled. Naked. Vulnerable.

  At least those feelings had been predictable. With Vasil…could she really get it over with? She feared there was no quick solution — he didn’t want to merely satisfy a craving. And she had no idea how that would make her feel.

  Theo looked away from Vasil and brought the cup to her lips, drinking slowly to stall; she wasn’t sure how to begin.

  “There’s really not too much to tell,” she said, lowering the cup and idly running her finger up and down its side. “I wasn’t wanted, and I’m sure my mother tried everything short of killing herself to get rid of me after finding out she was pregnant. Guess I was as stubborn then as I am now, because I refused to go anywhere.”

  Vasil’s skin darkened a few shades. He clenched his jaw, and the cords on his neck stood out. He shook his head a moment later, clearing away some of his visible tension, but when he spoke his nostrils flared, and his brows fell low. “Why would anyone try to…to get rid of a youngling?”

  Theo shrugged. “Too much responsibility, another mouth to feed, the inability to feel anything toward another human being but resentment — take your pick. I’m sure there are a million other reasons.”

  He raised his hands and spread his fingers as though something would form in the air between his palms only to curl them into fists a few moments later. “Nothing you said is an adequate reason. Younglings are precious things. The most important things.”

  She snorted and set down her empty cup. “I don’t know how things are here, but that’s not the case in the rest of the universe.”