While Vanessa was so voluptuous, her breasts would be so soft, so malleable in his hands. He had engaged in the degrading act of mating with a simulation in preparation for the moment he was expected to make a child with the lottery winner. It had been stimulating, but not as pleasurable as he had imagined. After meeting Vanessa, he was beginning to understand why. There had been no feelings or emotions, no attraction or warmth.
In the same way, a particular flower or scent is attractive to one person and yet not to another, that was how it was with females. The woman already assigned him held no attraction, whereas Vanessa, he could imagine pressing his cock inside her and making her climax around him. Oh yes, he could imagine that, almost taste her on his lips, and sense her emotions through his skin.
Although if she was the lottery winner, her emotions might be strong for another reason. Anger, hot and intense. She had said she didn’t want to enter the lottery or leave Earth. So how exactly did he expect her to react when she won? He glanced at his communicator: was it too late to undo his actions? Because this was madness.
He only hoped when she found out he had entered her in the lottery against her will, she would surprise him. Or else this would be a PR disaster.
“Hier Ruler. I thought we had lost you,” Okil came out of the space cruiser, worry etched on his face. “When the rain came I tried to contact you. When I couldn’t, I returned here as soon as I could. Once I realised you weren’t here, I contacted Karal. A search probe has been dispatched.”
“Then go and call it off, Okil. I am quite well.” Lytril climbed the ramp, going into the belly of the ship with only one last look around at the landscape around him.
Why? he wondered, did it look somehow different, fresher now? He thought he could blame the rain, but he knew he had to face himself and his actions, and blame Vanessa.
Chapter Ten – Vanessa
Vanessa sat looking at the painting of the alien. She lifted a bottle to her mouth and drank. Toasting the lives of the old woman and the boy. Earlier this afternoon she had received confirmation that their bodies had been found, along with a further hundred, in the arches. It had taken two days for the water to go down enough for them to retrieve all of the remains.
She couldn’t understand why it hit her so hard; she hadn’t known them, hell, the old woman had conned her out of her coins and her coat. But when she sat and looked at the painting she had created with those paints, she realised that the old woman had probably undercharged her. Colour was the most expensive commodity in this grey world.
“Get over it,” she told herself viciously and dragged herself to her feet, trying to shake off the feeling of melancholy.
Although she pushed away the reason their deaths had hit her so hard, she knew it was there. Since her father’s death, she had not allowed herself to care for any other human. She helped them, yes, wherever she could; she would help any stranger, just as she helped the alien. But she didn’t want to be a part of their lives. In that way, she would never be able to lose them. The old woman and the boy reinforced her views. She wanted to live a simple life and die, unmarried, unloved.
Going back downstairs, she tipped the bottle up and downed the last of the liquor. It had been expensive, but she felt she needed the buzz and then the total oblivion it would give her. Tonight there would be no dreams, nothing but … well … nothingness. She smiled at her own joke, the alcohol already worming its way into her brain and shutting down her systems.
“Oh, sweet nothing, come to me,” she said. And she collapsed on her bed, closing her eyes and shutting out the world.
***
Lights flashed. What was wrong? She wasn’t supposed to get dreams tonight. Then she cursed. She should know better than to drink liquor from a street trader, it was probably laced with some kind of narcotic and now she was seeing lights and flashes as it affected her brain.
Panic filled her. She had to go and puke in the toilet, get the stuff out of her system. But as she got up and staggered to the bathroom, it struck her that the lights were real. They were all around the front of her building. Fearing there was some kind of accident, she headed for the front door. Then changed her mind. She couldn’t deal with any more death.
With a spinning head, she made her way to the gas stove, placed the kettle on it and prayed for once that it would light the first time. It did. She stood, trying to block everything out as the kettle slowly boiled. Only when the knocking on the door started, did she decide to become part of the world again.
Not caring what she looked like, after all, the dead didn’t care. She went to the front door and pulled it open. Only to be confronted by the flashing lights. Of cameras.
Shielding her face, she tried to take it all in. Then a voice shouted, “Celebrating your win, are you, Vanessa?”
“What?” she croaked, wishing she had visited the bathroom first; she was pretty sure she was about to dump the contents of her stomach on the floor, in the glaring lights of a thousand cameras.
“The lottery. Dozy cow must have entered it and not watched the results. You won, Vanessa. You’re going to Karal.” Another round of flashes. She stumbled back inside and slammed the door shut.
What the hell had happened?
Bile rose in her throat and she ran for the bathroom, only just managing to get to the toilet before the acid burnt her mouth. Damn, of all the times to decide to drink alcohol!
For several minutes afterwards she sat shivering on the floor going over the last four weeks, trying to figure out how she could have accidentally entered the lottery. It seemed impossible; they had to scan your tag. It was small, in the back of your neck, not the kind of thing you accidentally scan as you go through a checkout. The chip contained all your details, down to your DNA. It was rumoured that was how the lottery was fixed, that they only chose women that were genetically correct to breed the best alien children.
She reached for the toilet again and emptied the rest of the contents of her stomach, feeling feverish, and shivering so much her teeth chattered. It all made sense now. Her alien visitor. Was that it? She was the most genetically compatible female who was going to ovulate in the next two days. Had he come here on pretence of being in trouble just so he could scan her tag?
What an underhanded thing to do! She got up, her legs weak, and looked in the mirror. How could she be the best bet for the next generation of aliens? There had to be some mistake. But the flashing cameras told her that wasn’t the case. One pap might have got it wrong, but not an army of them.
Another knock at the door. She walked over to it but pulled back, deciding she didn’t want to open it again; she wanted to shut the whole world out. Hide from this, just as she hid from life when her father died.
But the knocking persisted and then a voice called, “Vanessa. Open the door. My name is Okil, and I have been sent to collect you.”
She went to the door, put her hands on the cool metal and leaned against it. “I don’t want to go. There must be some mistake.”
“I don’t want to speak to you through the door, with all the cameras recording this. Will you let me in, Vanessa?” He sounded genuine, and when he added “please,” she had no choice.
Unlocking the door, she pulled it open to the flashes of cameras and the shouts from the paps. The man, Okil, didn’t hang around; he came in and shut the door behind him, locking it again. He then stood, towering above her as she wondered what she was supposed to do now. Here she was, once more, with an alien in her apartment.
“Hello, Vanessa,” Okil said, offering her his hand to shake.
She eyed him suspiciously, but at least this one seemed to have manners, so she took his hand. The sensations coming from him were not as strong as from the other alien who had been here. Maybe he kept them more in check, she wasn’t sure. But for some reason she liked Okil; she only hoped he wasn’t manipulating her with his gift. Could they do that? Enhance a human’s mood with their touch?
“Nice to meet you, Okil. Now wil
l you kindly tell me what the hell is going on?”
“You won the lottery.” He looked around the warehouse. “You don’t have TV, you don’t watch the Stream?”
“No. Obviously. Because perhaps if I did, I might have had some warning about this whole thing. But then, since I didn’t enter the lottery, there was no reason for me to watch it. So once again, can I ask you, what the hell is going on?”
“I’ve been asked to collect you, and then everything will be explained.”
“No,” she said, folding her arms across her chest. “I am not going anywhere with you.”
“Vanessa, please, I can’t tell you. But I can take you to someone who can.”
“Who? The other alien who was here before? Did he enter me into the lottery? Is that it? I’m the right DNA match? I told him I wanted to stay here on Earth. He had no right to do this.” Her voice had risen in pitch.
“Vanessa, I’m following orders. Please, I promise that if you don’t want to go,” he took a big breath before finishing, “I will do everything in my power to get you to safety.”
She studied him closely. Something didn’t add up. “This wasn’t supposed to happen.”
“Please come with me. Let Lytril talk to you. Then decide.”
“Lytril, is that the name of the alien who was here before?”
“Yes. You had an effect on him.” Okil looked uncomfortable, as if he had already said too much.
“An effect? What do you mean?” She saw his expression shut down, so she touched his arm and reassured him, making a connection between them. “Whatever you say will stay between us, Okil. I give you my word.”
“I can’t, he will know. Please, just come with me. Then make your decision.”
“Is he so bad, that you are afraid of him?” She hadn’t picked that up from her first alien visitor, Lytril. Remembering the way he made her feel, she couldn’t quite believe he was so scary, although he had made her shudder, but not with fear. With longing. She saw that now. And he had been attracted to her too. Was that what this was about?
“No. He’s not bad at all. He is trying to do what is right for my people. He came here to see what humans were like. And until he met you, he had no thought for their welfare. Now he is seeing things differently, and maybe you could persuade him to do more for the people of Earth.” Now he looked as if he had signed his own death warrant.
“Okil,” she said, reaching out and touching his face, feeling the rush of emotions through her skin, telling her he meant every word he said. “I’m not sure the people of Earth are worth saving. But you do. So I will come with you. Not for any reason other than because you are showing more humanity than any other human I have met for some time.”
“Thank you, Vanessa. Our species need each other. The more time I spend on Earth, the more I understand that.”
“Wait while I wash and change.” She left him standing and looking at her paintings while she went and got ready to meet her alien once more.
Chapter Eleven – Lytril
He checked he looked presentable one last time. He couldn’t work out why he was so nervous. Because you cheated, the voice in his head said. And he had. He had scanned her tag with his communicator and then arranged it so she won the lottery. What was he thinking?
He didn’t know anymore. She had become his obsession; he needed to know how her brain worked, why she felt how she did. And more than anything, he needed to know if he could make her feel those deep emotions for him. That was how he planned to sell it to the small council if they learned his secret. They had to find out if it was possible for a Karalian and a human to come together without being chosen through DNA and ovulation cycles. It sounded like a plausible excuse.
Damn, he sounded insane. Worse than Torac, but at least that was one member of the Hier Council who would support him. Torac had already been putting forward proposals to increase the lottery to once a week, bringing more females to Karal. A thing Lytril had not considered good for Karal, not until he met Vanessa.
A car pulled up outside, and he felt the prickle of nerves up his back and knew the colours were skimming across his skin like a sandstorm in the desert. Wild, uncontrollable, she upset his equilibrium in a way he had never had to contend with before. But he had to remain calm, aloof even, or else she would know she had the upper hand. Whereas he wanted to persuade her that she had no choice but to come back to Karal with him.
He had to persuade her that he had control.
Footsteps upon the ramp. He went to stand at the top, looking down on her as she walked up with Okil. He didn’t know whether to be disappointed or not at the way his emotions ruled him at the sight of her. It was freeing, after a life spent keeping himself under such tight control.
As he reached out his hand to shake hers, which Okil had taught him was a quaint custom on earth, he steeled himself for the surge of joy he would feel, and knew the colours would be visible to her.
“Vanessa,” he said smoothly. “Thank you so much for coming.”
“Did I have a choice?” she asked, putting her hand into his.
Lytril felt the jolt of recognition pass between them. A sensation that fascinated him. How could she have this effect on him? It had to be lust, his desire to make love to her, to procreate with her. Yes, that was what he would explain to the council. That he needed to understand the physical effect human females would have on all males of Karal.
For she had power and control over him if she chose to embrace it, to acknowledge it. Lytril persuaded himself that his task was clear. He had to learn to control her, to read her emotions and pre-empt any effects the other human females might have on his species. For if he couldn’t do that, he would have failed them as their leader. And that would leave his species exposed to danger.
If ever the people of Karal became more like humans, their planet would suffer. And as Hier Ruler, he could not let that happen. He, above all else, was tasked with the job of regaining control, wrestling it from the clutches of these females.
As his heart soared at her touch, he knew once he had persuaded her to take the prize and come to Karal, he would need to close his emotions down tightly. Or he would give her the world. His world.
Was this love? If it was, it was the most powerful emotion he had ever experienced. And the most dangerous.
Chapter Twelve – Vanessa
“I apologise. But I have my reasons and I would appreciate you hearing them before you decide.”
“Decide? So I do have a choice?”
“I am hoping to leave you with no choice,” he said, smiling at her. But it looked false, as if he was trying to be something he was not. Lytril was trying to be what he thought she wanted him to be. Whereas she wanted him to be real, to be himself.
“That would depend on what you have to say.” She walked further into the space cruiser, wanting to have a good look inside. The whole space travel and wormhole thing seemed preposterous to her. That this small ship could carry her across the universe and to another planet.
When the aliens had first landed, she had wondered if the whole thing was made up. Maybe it was the Presidency’s way of controlling the population, giving them a distraction from their daily drudge-filled lives. That these space cruisers were not real and that the women who won the lottery were simply taken away and what? Killed?
These were desperate times in the long-drawn-out death throes of the Earth and its inhabitants.
“Will you leave us alone, Okil?” Lytril asked. She thought about telling him she wanted Okil to stay, but she let it go. “Please, come and sit down. I have made refreshments.”
His idea of refreshments was ice-cold water, so pure it was as clear as the glass she drank it from. Then there were fruits, fresh, juicy and sweet. Not a single synthetic product in sight. She knew he was already trying to bribe her to take him as a prize, but she ate all the same. If this was the only time she was going to get to taste fresh fruit, then why not enjoy it?
“These are won
derful. What are they called?” she asked, biting into a vibrant green fruit, a little like a lime but much sweeter, although the aftertaste was so refreshing.
“Petan, they are grown for their refreshing flavour. They are dried, and used as you would eat candy.” He offered her a dish filled with other fruits and some bread. “It is a couple of days old, but still edible.”
Edible didn’t quite describe it, and she tried not to let him see how much she enjoyed his food. Already the thought of going to Karal was becoming more acceptable. All he had to do was touch her, and he could probably get her to accept. She steeled herself, knowing she had to keep her faculties intact and not be swayed by him.
“This is all delicious. But it’s a bribe for me to keep quiet and go to Karal with you.” She drank some more water and then put her glass down. This was her life they were about to bargain over. Food, no matter how delicious, could wait. “Talk, Lytril, tell me what this is all about. Why me?”
“I could lie and tell you that your DNA was perfect, and that you have been chosen for that reason and you should be willing to come to my planet. It would be a better life than you have now.”
“But it wouldn’t be my life, would it? In return for all of this food and water, and clean air, I would be under your command. I imagine that even once I had given birth to one of your alien children, I would not be allowed to roam free. Just in case I taint or corrupt your planet.”
“No.”
“So sell it to me, Lytril. Pretend you are on the Stream and sell yourself to me, in the same way I feel I will be selling my soul to you.” Her anger bubbled up near the surface; she had not meant to show him so much of her emotions, but she couldn’t help it. She did not intend to give up her freedom, something he had now admitted she would have to, if she went to his planet.
Power: BBW Alien Lottery Romance (Chosen by the Karal Book 3) Page 4
