Alien Stolen

by Rena Marks

  She sealed her soft lips to mine. I was silent for a moment, stunned at her show of affection in front of Ria. Before I knew it, they slipped away.

  “No,” I yelled, the word echoing down the shaft. “Sian, wait.”

  She never turned around.

  I wanted to bellow with frustration when she left me chained in the mine shaft again. This was more than royalty could take. I’d been exceedingly patient with my mate—gentle, loving, giving, and yet…here I was again. Used, and chained.

  I clenched my fists, an impotent rage rushing through my limbs. How could the woman still not trust me?

  But the underground cave was quiet. Too quiet. Without anyone else nearby, I could hear the faint rumble of voices. I cocked my head to hear better. It sounded like Sian’s father, but oddly, the voice came from above, instead of from the direction of the entrance. Slowly, dust wafted in the air.

  And a feather.

  What was a feather doing wafting in the mine? The voices of Sian and Ria’s parents became louder as they entered the front of the mine shaft, yet the feather still wafted down, taunting me.

  “Ria? Sian? We’ve got chicken.” The one known as Robert called out and was the first to enter the area where I was kept. His eyes went to mine, and the other three stopped behind him when they saw I was alone.

  Ria’s father held a strange animal, covered in the same feathers as the one I’d watched float from the ceiling.

  Goddess of the galaxy. I’d heard their voices overhead because there was a break in the ceiling, which meant the ground they’d walked on outside was unstable. A feather from the chicken fell through the hole, wafting down to arrive before they ever did.

  The ceiling above us was unstable. The area directly between them and me. When it collapsed, it would seal us all in the underground shaft, or crush these puny humans with the massive weight of stone.

  “Do you hear that?” Gerry, Sian’s father said, looking upward. “Those military trucks are going by again. I wonder where Sian and Ria are?”

  That’s when I heard the rumbling of the engines, like the transport vehicle Sian had stolen when she freed us. They were directly overhead.

  Where the feather had dropped.

  Sian wouldn’t want their parents to die in the collapsing mine shaft. I had to do something. Despite the consequences, I had to bring my strength back from her to save them.

  It was unnatural to retrieve a freely given gift to one’s mate. It would be painful for my little human, my fragile Sian. I wasn’t even sure how much pain a human could take. But I knew she loved this odd little family she had and would choose this no matter the consequences.

  I knew what the consequences would be.

  Chapter Eleven

  I closed my eyes, and extended my palms as I sucked the energy back. It slammed into my body on a white-hot flash. I roared with the blast of excruciating pain, at the exact same time the mine collapsed with a similar roar, the explosive noise covering mine.

  I ripped the rusted chains from the metal stakes to which I was tied and shoved forward with my scales intact. I was able to push the human group backward as the rocks and dust fell from above. We all crashed to the ground. When the dust settled, I covered Shelly’s legs with my upper body, but mine were caught under the fallen rubble.

  The humans coughed and choked the dust from their lungs. Very slowly, I shifted my spines, the rocks on top of me tumbled as they rocked and fell.

  “Shelly! Shelly, are you all right?” Robert asked, terror in his voice.

  She didn’t respond.

  Tension jerked my limbs as I realized there was another rumble from a vehicle up above, and I wasn’t sure if the gap in the ceiling was finished or would continue to deteriorate.

  I snarled at the four to get out of the cave in case of another collapse, but they looked at me without answering. So I carefully picked up the unconscious Shelly and carried her from the cave. The rest huddled together, supporting each other, as they limped out after me.

  Just outside, I settled Shelly down. She began to moan, and the others comforted her. I did not think she was injured. She was probably just startled as she woke from her unconscious state.

  Off in the distance, I stared, wondering if Sian had been anywhere dangerous when I’d retrieved the power. If she was left vulnerable and helpless before the human militia. Hopefully, she’d been rendered unconscious and was face-down, the earth protecting the area of her chest, where my power stored. I felt myself pale. She was with Ria. If Sian did collapse, Ria would not leave her lying facedown.

  “Is she out there?” Her father asked me.

  I nodded, just once. Then, with a look at him, I went to retrieve my mate.

  I moved quickly, in the same direction we’d originally come from, and when I was far enough from the human chaos that I could concentrate, I closed my eyes to sense her. Sian was suffering, and projecting that pain over our connection without knowing. Of course, the small human still wasn’t aware that we had a connection.

  She and Ria hadn’t made it far. Sian was slipping in and out of consciousness, the pain of having my strength ripped from her intolerable. There was a hole in her auric field at her chest. She was propped up against something soft—I believed it to be Ria’s chest. But it left her own chest open and exposed. I hurried as I followed my senses, afraid any other being would be able to following her bleeding auric field also. Once that happened, she was completely open to any being that wanted to jump in for the ride.

  I began to run, leaping over hills and rushing through valleys.

  Finally I came upon them, and it was as I suspected. Ria was sitting up near a tree, with Sian propped in front of her. Thankfully, her arms were around her, blocking some of the mystical energetic bleeding from the wound. But the air was unnaturally still, the veils between worlds thinning with the nourishment that fed them.

  “Miack,” Ria gasped.

  I kneeled in front of them. My scales intact and my spines erect in combat mode, I pushed invisible energy backward, away from us. Then I used my hands to gather and push Sian’s energy back toward the hole. The hairs on Ria’s arms stood up, and goosebumps swelled along her forearms. Carefully, I separated her arms and pushed them from Sian’s chest. The brilliance of escaping energy was exactly what evil wraiths were looking for. I sensed one coming up behind me, like a dark gray thundercloud, sweeping more quickly than it should, trying to get around me to shove its form into the hole.

  My spikes came to life, and zapped it with tiny fingers of electricity. The evil being squealed, a dying shriek that sent it back to the underground parallel universe from which it came.

  Ria stared in horror at the image behind my back, too terrified to even scream. I regretted that she’d gotten a glimpse of the evil creature, but it couldn’t be helped. I had to protect the gaping wound.

  Then, with flashes of colored energy emitting from my palms, I sealed the hole in the center of her chest. When it wasn’t leaking any longer, I took the time to reach up and close Ria’s shell-shocked eyes.

  Behind me, the spirits of energy weakened, unable to penetrate through the dimensional walls, and eventually couldn’t keep their form in this world.

  The planet returned to how it should be, creatures chirping in the trees, the smell of the rich, earthy soil, the blue skies with their white clouds barely roving across the huge sky.

  Ria was the first to open her eyes. I winced at the new, silver color staring back at me. Sian wasn’t going to miss that feature. Yet I couldn’t convey that her friend witnessed something she should never have seen. Something she should have been protected against.

  Sian opened her eyes next. She raised her hand weakly toward my face, and my spines dropped instantly, protecting her tender skin at all costs. “You’re here,” she mumbled. “So weak.”

  Her hand dropped. She was out again. I scooped her up in my arms to carry back to their cave, leaving Ria to follow. She stumbled a few times, and I slowed my
self so she could keep up. She was dazed, too. Because of that, she had no idea colors were sharper now and her depth perception was off with her new vision.

  These were Earthlings, and they needed their primary elements. It would snap Ria out of the cotton-numbing state she was in. I laid Sian onto the ground, grateful we were still among the shade-giving trees. I had to steer Ria to where to sit, and I sat next to her, forming a circle with the help of Sian’s body. Into the earth, I dug a small hole, placed a leaf in it to slow the drainage, and used Ria’s water bottle to fill it with water. I took the necklace from Sian’s neck and struck flame, lighting a bit of dried leaves and twigs between us. Then I used the warm energy of my palms to stir up the air.

  The mystical breeze swirling around us is what snapped Ria out of the bemused state she was under. The small fire still burned, even with the breeze, whereas it should have been smothered. The water boiled in the small hole, though it didn’t evaporate.

  “What the fuck, Miack?” Ria blustered in her ever-delicate way.

  I smiled, pointed to my throat, and with a clap of my palms, shut the elements down. Instantly the fire died, the water evaporated and the breeze stilled. Then I picked up Sian, and left Ria to tag along.

  Eventually, the ground flattened as the sun went down, and she was able to walk easier even though she couldn’t see.

  All the parents were still outside when we returned, and came running toward us. I didn’t stop, wanting to get Sian into the cooler cave. The rest of them followed, babbling bits and pieces in their human language.

  “What happened?”

  “How did he know where to find you?”

  When I reached the area of the mine where the ceiling had collapsed, I kicked the rocks against the walls, several of the large boulders crushing under my feet. I stirred up more dust, but this time, there was a gaping hole in the ceiling for it to rise through. I walked deeper into the cave, where the ceiling was thicker. At least the new skylight would provide light for their weaker eyes. They’d have to keep down their noise, though, or the levels would filter through the top.

  I laid Sian down, and her father lit one of the lanterns, casting a soft glow through the cave. Sian was beginning to moan, and I smoothed the flaxen hair that had escaped her braids from her forehead. My people loved variant colors, and Sian was unusual with her brown skin and white hair. Her eyes were a warm, reddish brown. A color that resembled onishka, the brewed drink we made during cold winters. The pale hair was an anomaly. My queen was a beauty.

  I glanced at Ria. My people would now find her an anomaly, too. Her skin was dark also, and her hair. But her eyes? They shone with a silver gaze. They were downcast right now, the lashes sweeping her cheekbones as she concentrated on Sian. I doubted anyone had noticed her new look.

  “What happened?” Sian’s speech was still slurred, as if it required too much energy to form words. If I could, I would give her my energy back. But there was no way I’d rip another hole into her aura. She looked up at each person in the room.

  “I don’t know,” Ria whispered. “You started screaming, clutched your chest, and passed out. Then Miack came running. The rest is kind of a blur, and I’m not sure if I was dreaming the last part.”

  “What’s wrong with your eyes?” Sian said.

  Ria’s eyes widened, looking to me. I couldn’t explain to her, and so I pointed at my throat, a reminder of my muteness.

  Ria’s mother gasped as she looked at her eyes, and I realized that was where Ria obtained the habit from. Her father turned her chin toward him and stared into her face also.

  “Can you see all right?” he asked, his voice calm.

  “Y-yes. I think so. I mean, things look a bit different. Sharper. But I’m getting used to it.”

  He nodded. “Miack doesn’t seem worried. So I’m sure you’re fine.”

  My chest felt like it swelled with the brief bubble of acceptance. This tiny group of humans these—bugs—accepted me.

  “What’s wrong with them?” Ria asked.

  “They’re an odd—an unusual—a different color. Just a different color. That’s all. Sort of a...light silver.”

  “They’re freaky as hell,” Sian said, her voice stronger. “You look like an alien life form.”

  Ria narrowed her eyes at her friend. “Jealous.”

  The two girls giggled and clasped hands easily.

  Then her father began to tell the story of the mine shaft collapsing, and of a light slamming into my chest just as the rocks fell. Of how I busted my bonds to push them all out of the way, saving his wife’s life.

  My mate looked at me like I was a hero for saving her family. Yet I couldn’t tell her I was the reason why she was incapacitated right now. The reason why she had a huge scar in her auric field.

  Chapter Twelve

  After dinner, Sian wandered off. I kept looking in the direction where she’d left, but she never returned. Her mother watched me.

  “She’ll be at the pond. There’s a tree she likes to sit under. It’s large, and the roots cut through the ground, cradling you like a chair would. Sometimes she watches the sun as it sets.”

  I nodded and headed out.

  She sat just where her mother said she would, enjoying the moonlight. I came up behind her and sat next to her tree.

  “You saved us,” she said. “I stole you. I stole your strength. And you just keep giving to me.”

  “It is my job to give to you. I love you, Sian. Even though you can’t understand me, I’ve tried to show you in every possible way. My gifts are your gifts. My duty is to shield you from death while you carry my strength, and yours is to protect me while I am weakened.” How I wished she could understand my words. Very gently, I pulled her to me, my arm around her shoulders. She resisted at first, and then she sank into my strength, acknowledging my power. I stroked her soft skin. “You are mine,” I said, kissing the top of her head. She’d unraveled her hair and left wispy waves curling along her shoulders. “You just don’t know it yet.”

  She pushed my hands away from her body. “No hanky-panky,” she whispered. “It saps your strength every time.”

  “I know that, my mate. I give it to you freely.” With a finger on her chin, I turned her beautiful face up to me and deliberately kissed her soft lips.

  She moaned softly and tried to push me away again. Her palms lay flat on my chest. I held her still, and her touch changed to curiosity. My heartbeats sped up.

  I held perfectly still, allowing her exploration. When her tiny fingers roved over my abdomen, I groaned and moved forward, kissing her sweet lips. I lowered her to lie on her back, sliding my hand through her amazing hair. It was so soft, it fluttered around my large fingers like the palest corn silk. She was utterly beautiful.

  “That’s it,” I murmured “Relax into it.”

  I kissed her again and opened her pink lips with mine. I stroked her tongue and felt when our passion flared to life. She moaned so sweetly. Gripping her thigh, I brought it up over my hip, and then pressed my hard cock to her core.

  “Wow,” she moaned. I pressed into her again, and she being to circle her own hips against me. “You make me crazy,” she said, her voice thick with need already. I slipped my hand between her legs and felt moist heat radiating from her core through the fabric that covered her cunt.

  “You drive me just as crazy,” I said. “One day, you will know what I’m saying. You will know you’re mine, and you will rule my planet alongside me. But for now, let’s lose ourselves in passion.”

  “Slip a finger inside,” she whispered. She gulped in a breath of air as I parted the fabric of her undergarments and stroked her softly, building her inner burn.

  “Miack,” she breathed. “Baby, just like that.”

  “That’s my girl.” I punctuated my words with kisses. “Tell me what you want me to do to you.” My thumb rubbed the tiny button of soft flesh at the top of her slit. Her cunt was covered in a mound of soft, blonde curls. My insides clenched, achi
ng to be balls deep inside her. She was soaked, and I knew she could already take me. But I wanted to prolong her pleasure.

  As she whimpered and bucked up against my hand, I circled her clit, teasing it and my greedy mate with more.

  I knew when she was ready because she was the one to frantically yank our clothing off. It was as if she couldn’t wait to be skin to skin. I understood the need, but what I wasn’t prepared for was Sian throwing herself at me and sinking her hot, wet sheath over my cock. I groaned, and bucked up into her, plowing through the velvety goodness.

  I reached for her hips, moving her smaller body back and forth as I bucked into her, over and over until we both reached our peak. I finally allowed myself to release when her cunt gripped me in spasms. She opened her mouth, and I captured the scream with my kiss.

  Our bodies quivered in aftershocks. I held her nude form over mine, running the tips of my fingers over her smooth spine. I would never get used to the insufficient protection of human bodies. No ridges, no protrusions, nothing.

  Slowly, I felt my strength sapping away, moving into my mate. The way it should be.

  Sian breathed deeply. “It’s coming,” she said. “I can feel it.”

  “Relax,” I murmured. “We are safe this way. And I have gotten used to having your human-male strength instead. The first time, I thought my strength was completely depleted. Then I realized it is not. You are just a much weaker species. But I can still protect you with that lesser amount, and I can still shield you while you carry my gift.”

  The air grew silent. Surely I felt a ripple in the atmosphere, an undercurrent of tangible magnetism. Excitement hit my gut. Was that what I thought it was? Sweet Goddess, I hoped so.

  Sian felt nothing. She continued to trace lazy circles on my abdomen. I held her hand still and pushed us gently up.

  “Get dressed, mate.” I showed her our clothing and began to pull mine on. “Hurry. Unless you want my people to see us naked.”

  * * * * *

  Sian:

  I didn’t understand the urgency Miack tried to convey, but he was dressing, so I did, too. As I pulled on my pants, I felt it. A thickening of the air around us, and a shimmering against the stars in the night sky. Something wasn’t right. Something wasn’t natural.