by Emma Castle
Claudia lounged on her bed, a fat biochemistry book open in front of her and a fleet of slender Post-it notes scattered like brightly colored flower petals around her. “What’s weird?”
“The university president just emailed me. He has some special guests coming on campus today. He wants me to join them on a tour.”
“You are the president’s daughter. I’m surprised Ackerman even kept his promise not to trot you out like a prized pony this long.” Claudia highlighted something in her book, still not looking up.
“I know. Mr. Ackerman has been pretty low-key up till now.” She remembered her interview day, when the only question she’d had for him had been whether she would be able to feel like a normal college kid and not have her life on display to entertain big donors and that sort of thing. He had promised her that he would let her have a quiet, completely normal experience.
“Maybe since I’m only a few weeks away from graduating, he felt he could break his promise.”
Claudia made a noise as though she was listening, but Bianca knew better. Claudia was deep into prepping for her biochemistry finals and couldn’t afford any distractions. Bianca left her roommate alone and met her Secret Service agents, Mike and Scott, as she left her dorm room.
They’d been with her for the last four years, and were more like overprotective brothers than armed agents. They wore dark sunglasses and had the telltale little radios plugged in their ears.
Mike put his hand to his mouth, whispering as he communicated with another team off campus. “Hummingbird on the move.” And then they were off, like a three-part machine, moving in tandem across campus. The agents didn’t wear suits—they wore street clothes to keep attention to a minimum—but it was hard not to notice the two grim-faced men trailing close behind her.
When she was sixteen, she had hated the agents following her everywhere, but now she had grown used to them. They really weren’t that bad, and they didn’t completely destroy her social life. In recent years they’d eased up on her detail, probably because the threat to her life had decreased after K-Day. When the Krinar invaded, politics had changed on the global scale. The Ks were the real threat, and the rebellious factions of humans across the globe had become more united against them.
“Slight change in plans, guys,” she told the agents as she steered away from the student union and headed toward the administrative building.
Scott frowned. “Oh?” He didn’t like change because it could put her in danger if he couldn’t clear a room or a setting before she arrived there safely.
“Mr. Ackerman wants me to join him on some tour around campus. He must have some heavy donors he wants to impress.”
“He should’ve cleared that with the security detail last night” Mike began. Bianca put a hand on his arm and sighed.
“It’s not a big deal, okay?” She trotted up the steps to the administration building and went inside.
Mr. Ackerman’s office was on the first floor in a corner suite. Bianca smiled at his receptionist while she called the president on the phone. She listened to whatever he said and then nodded eagerly.
“Just have a seat, Ms. Wells. They’ll be right out.”
Bianca sat down, and the two agents hovered nearby, one at the door and the other in the hallway. She summoned a polite smile as the door opened and President Ackerman stepped out of his office, but her smile faltered as she noticed who was behind him. Two Krinar, one a svelte female and the other an attractive, muscled male. Then her heart stopped as she caught sight of another Krinar male leaving the office.
Ambassador Soren is here. She felt dizzy with a sudden spell of vertigo.
“Ms. Wells, such a delight to have you accompanying us today…” Ackerman continued speaking, but she could barely understand him. Her head was buzzing as she drank in the sight of the man who’d starred in far too many of her dreams and nightmares. He wore a fitted light-gray pair of trousers and a black sweater that molded to his body enough to indicate his muscled physique. Other than his clothes, he hadn’t changed one bit since she’d last seen him. The Krinar didn’t age, she knew that, but she didn’t know how that was possible. But he was an alien, and there was much humans didn’t know about the Krinar. They kept their science and technology incredibly secret.
Soren was the creature of her nightmares, but he was also the only man she’d ever had sexual fantasies about, intense ones—sometimes dark ones that made her wake shivering and hungry for things that filled her with shame. Yet she couldn’t deny the raw passion that thoughts of him could incite in her. It made it hard to take other men seriously when they asked her out because the only man she could think about was him.
It was messed up, but it was the truth. And it was something she wanted to bury out of sight. But that wouldn’t be possible today. Not with the simmering heat coming from Soren as he looked into her eyes.
“Ms. Wells?” Ackerman’s voice broke through the chaos of her thoughts.
She blushed. “Sorry, President Ackerman.”
“This is Jaks.” He nodded toward the male K, who smiled pleasantly at her. “And this is Driana.” The female’s smile was also warm and genuine. “You are familiar with Ambassador Soren, I believe?”
All she could manage was a nod.
“Good. Well, Jaks and Driana are going to start lectures this fall at Princeton. Ambassador Soren knew you attended here and believed it might be beneficial to share your experiences with our new professors.”
Knowing this was not a time she could turn and escape, she had to grin and bear the situation as best she could. She stepped up to Driana, and Driana trailed the backs of her knuckles down Bianca’s left cheek in greeting. Bianca returned it. “It’s nice to meet you.” She had learned the Krinar greeting years ago. She stepped toward Jaks to do the same, but he gave a slight shake of his head when Soren made a low sound that sounded suspiciously like a growl. Was he honest to God growling? Jaks didn’t look Soren’s way, but his smile was still warm as he nodded in greeting instead.
Soren didn’t approach her, and for that she was thankful. If he had touched her, she honestly didn’t know what she would have done. He continued to watch her, his eyes giving her body an invisible caress that made her break out in goosebumps.
Ackerman cleared his throat. “Well…er…shall we start the tour?”
For the next two hours, she and Ackerman worked together to present the prestigious history of Princeton and answer any questions the Ks had about the university and college life. Jaks and Driana were polite and clearly interested in the human college experience. Soren remained silent except when the other Ks asked him something. The entire time, his focus remained fixed on her. Her blood heated beneath her skin each time she glanced his way and found him intensely watching her. This was so different from five years ago. She’d been dismissed so quickly then, but now she had caught his attention and couldn’t shake it.
“You enjoy living in these dormitories?” Jaks inquired as they paused before one of the many housing structures on campus. “They seem…small.”
“College students enjoy being around people our own age. Sometimes it can be like a party. I like the quiet more, but my roommate, Claudia, is fun.”
Driana lifted her head back as she studied the tall red brick dorm. “In our settlements, we prefer a little more space. We spread out rather than live on top of one another.” Her observation was not made with condescension but rather with curiosity.
Soren spoke up. “We are highly territorial, aren’t we, Jaks?”
Bianca’s gaze darted between the two handsome men, and she thought she saw amusement in Jaks’s eyes before he replied.
“Certainly some more than others.”
President Ackerman watched the exchange, clearly puzzled, before he clapped his hands together. “Right, well, the library is next.”
They headed to Princeton’s Firestone Library, and the Ks murmured among themselves in appreciation at the modern blend of stone and glass. Gi
ant circular chandeliers that Claudia called “the glowing doughnuts” illuminated one of the main study areas.
“Why don’t I show you our oldest archives? We have some impressive first editions of some of the greatest human literature.” Ackerman led the way. Bianca knew they would come back eventually to leave, so she remained by the entryway closest to the stacks. She hoped it would give her a moment to avoid Soren while he joined them in the archives portion of the library. Only he didn’t move around her, didn’t go with the other Ks. He stayed right there behind her, the heat of his body so close she could feel it. Mike and Scott shifted restlessly from their positions fifteen feet away, but she didn’t call for help.
“It has been a long time, Bianca,” Soren said, his voice low and soft, dangerously sweet. Bianca knew better than to trust that voice, no matter how much she had fantasized about it over the years, albeit in a very different context.
“It has.” She moved deeper into the stacks, not wanting any students to see them talking. Her security detail kept a discreet distance.
“And you have been well?” he asked, still in that soft, dangerous tone that made her shiver, and her thighs tightened. “When I meet with your father, he rarely speaks of you. He focuses only on business.”
“Yes, he’s good that way,” she replied. “I don’t like him to talk about me.” Especially to you, she thought.
Soren leaned against the stacks to her left, blocking her exit. She looked up at him. She was not short by any means at five feet six inches, but Soren was six foot seven and made her feel tiny. A shiver rippled through her, and it didn’t escape his notice.
“Are you cold?” He removed a device from his pocket, no bigger than a computer mouse, and before she could stop him, he pressed a button. A beam of light shot into the air, and she was shocked to see a thin pale-gray jacket materialize in front of her. He slipped the device back into his pocket and retrieved the jacket, which still hung suspended in the air, then slipped her arms into it. She knew from her father’s meetings that what he used was called a fabricator. The Ks had such advanced technology that they could produce almost anything they desired using such a tiny device.
His hands lingered a moment longer on her shoulders than was appropriate for two strangers. But they weren’t strangers, were they? And how often had she dreamed about him? Fantasized about those hands on her body, stroking, caressing, teasing her? Too many times. Her screams of fear all too often had turned to screams of pleasure as she’d awakened in the dark, her body dewed with sweat and her panties wet with her desire.
It always filled her with shame, to be turned on by an alien, especially the one who’d put her father in his place like a trained dog and had taken over the running of Earth so smoothly. But there was no denying the power Soren had over her in the realm of dreams. How he would trap her beneath him on a bed, pumping into her over and over, his teeth sinking into her neck, and how she’d obliterate into a thousand pieces as a primal, overwhelming climax rocked her to her core.
The way he was looking at her now, as though he could read her thoughts, made his eyes flash gold and his lips part slightly. His warm breath fanned her face, and she trembled at the heat building between them. It was as though they were at the heart of a dying star, spirals of light spinning outward from them. She’d seen that once on a science show, and she’d never forgotten the beautiful image. Now she felt as if she were living that within that moment.
He slowly released her but didn’t move away.
“You…you didn’t need to do that.” She wished she could shrug off the clothing made by his alien technology. But the jacket fit perfectly. Of course it did. Everything the Ks did was perfect, right down to controlling the lives of humans. She was all too aware of the fact that right now he could do anything to her that he liked, and it wouldn’t be against any of the laws because Ks were above human laws. They were in charge.
“There’s far more pleasure in doing what one wants than what one needs, don’t you agree?” He brushed his knuckles down her cheek in greeting, but unlike with Driana, it was not an innocent gesture. His touch left a burning sensation on her skin that made her head spin, and he leaned down until their faces were a few inches apart. His brown eyes swirled into honey gold again, and his dark, masculine scent surrounded her. He repeated the light caress to her other cheek, and she couldn’t stop herself from reacting. When she leaned into that touch, he stopped breathing for a few seconds, and so did she.
Her eyes locked with his, and her desire for him, the thing she hated most about herself, seemed too strong to fight.
“You tempt me, Bianca. Tempt me to break my own rules.”
She stared at his full lips now, fascinated by the sensual curve of them as he smiled. “What rules?”
“I didn’t want to get involved with a human, especially not one as politically important as you, but…” He cupped her chin, his face moving even closer. “But it seems I can’t deny myself.”
It was the only warning she had before his lips stole hers. The kiss exploded with the force of a bursting supernova. His lips nibbled at hers, his tongue winning entrance to her mouth. He tasted so good, unexpectedly sweet, which Bianca puzzled over as she gripped his sweater to draw him closer. The thrill of his kiss startled her so much that she didn’t resist, didn’t push away. No, her treacherous body burrowed closer to his, and his low, purring approval flushed her body from head to toe with spirals of wild heat. Her pulse pounded as he moved his head lower to her throat. He flicked his tongue against her skin before dragging the tips of his sharp teeth along her neck, causing a light rasping sensation.
A moan so loud it mortified her escaped her lips as she grew wet. His teeth moved to the crook between her neck and shoulder, sinking slightly deeper. Was he going to bite her?
“Please…” Bianca breathed a plea, but she honestly wasn’t sure if she was asking him to stop or to keep going.
“Please what, lilana?” He gathered her into his arms, and the scent of him washing over her made her delightfully dizzy.
“What does that mean? Lilana?”
Soren nuzzled her neck, his lips moving in soft whispers over her skin. “It means precious one in my tongue.”
Precious one? How could she be precious to him? He was a K, and she was human. She knew how he viewed her people. His words from five years ago to her father still echoed in her head.
“You have been poor custodians of such a precious planet. You have ruined it. We are here to fix what we can, and you will be thankful for the intervention.”
The memory was a cold slap to her face. She flattened her palms on his chest and shoved. Hard. The muscled mass of Soren’s tall form didn’t budge. Tears of rage and shame pricked her eyes. She hated being weak, and only Soren made her feel like this. She was helpless around him, a toy, nothing of consequence.
He pulled back and stared down at her, concern darkening his eyes. His russet hair, a rare color among the Krinar, fell into his eyes. Had he been any other man, she would have reached up to brush it away from his beautiful, predatory eyes. But she didn’t dare. His pull was undeniable, and to touch him would be to risk everything.
“Ms. Wells, are you all right?” Scott asked.
The agent’s voice drew her eyes away from Soren. Scott and Mike hovered like overprotective mother hens. A fresh wave of mortification rolled through her. She had been caught making out in the stacks like some college freshman, with a damned Krinar! And her agents, two men she trusted with her life, were frowning in disapproval, their faces pale, and each looked ready to draw his weapon.
“I…I’m fine.” She gave the agents a grateful smile, but they all knew that if they dared to attack or restrain Soren, he was capable of ripping them to pieces. Krinar were incredibly fast and strong.
Everyone had seen the footage of a Middle Eastern terrorist cell that had tried to fight off just one Krinar male. The male had been hit by a sniper’s bullet during a surprise attack, and that had onl
y pissed him off. He’d rushed their position and torn them to pieces with his bare hands in a blood-fueled rage. If Soren wanted her, Mike and Scott would die trying to protect her from him, but they would die. She wouldn’t let that happen. She would surrender to him if she had to in order to protect those two good men.
“Will the tour be over soon?” Soren asked, ignoring the agents.
“I think so. Ackerman doesn’t have much else to show them.”
Soren’s lips curved in the ghost of a smile. “Good. When it is over, you and I shall talk.” He stepped away and exited the stacks to wait in the entryway for his fellow Ks to return.
Bianca ran her hands through her hair and struggled to grip the frayed ends of her self-control. Soren wanted her. She had felt the press of his shaft against her belly as he’d kissed her, and the blazing heat in his promise of what he wished to do with her. What was she going to do? There was no escaping this.
“Bianca,” Mike whispered softly, but even he knew that Soren could probably still hear them. “You sure you’re okay? We can take you away, call your father”
“No!” she hissed. If they called him, he would be furious, and that would risk the peaceful relationship between Earth and Krina. The Coexistence Treaty was in place, but that didn’t mean it couldn’t be broken if she was foolish enough to resist. Lives could be lost, and they could be enslaved more than they were now. At least right now the human race could tolerate their situation. The Ks ran the show, but they let human lives go on mostly unaffected. But all of that could change if she dared to resist whatever Soren wanted from her.
“You sure?” Scott pressed. “He wasn’t following protocol. It should be reported.”
“No. You know as well as I do what that could lead to. If he comes back to my dorm, stay outside. Please.” She reached out to touch both men on the shoulders, but the heavy sound of a distant growl made her hands freeze inches from their skin. She drew a slow breath.
