“Of course,” he smiled as he approached the edge of the bed and with what felt like nothing, seemed to remove the restraints so they evaporated into thin air.
Chantel sat upright and swung her legs over the side of the bed. The man stood in front of her and they stared at each other. There was something about him that was making her want to reach out and touch him, but she didn’t dare, for some reason she knew she had to hold back.
“During your stay with us, this will be your room,” he told her. “Make yourself at home, relax, and get your rest. We’re very excited to have you here.”
Chantel wanted to ask him what he meant, but instead she just nodded and smiled obligingly. At the back of her mind she knew it was wrong, but on the surface it all felt okay and she didn’t want to upset the happy rhythm and the calm feeling she had washing all over her.
“One of my colleagues will be with you shortly to start the process,” he said. “In the meantime, it would be best if you just relaxed and enjoyed your time here.”
Chantel nodded and watched him leave the room.
The black crack of the door sealed up behind him and the line of the entrance completely disappeared. It was as if it had never even been there. She was in so much white light that she felt the beginnings of a headache, and now that the man had gone, she felt a sense of dread creeping up on her.
None of this makes any sense, she thought. He was just like the man from the party, and yet I know that it wasn’t him. He says I have to stay here? But where am I? And what did he mean by process?
She thought on his words and although she knew deep down that she should have more questions and be determined to get the answers, she also wanted to do exactly what he had told her and to lie down and get some sleep.
She kicked her feet back up and lay down on the hard, solid bed. Even though there was no comfort in it, she had never felt more at home and she felt as if it had been made just for her. She closed her eyes and somehow managed to block out the blinding glare of the lights beaming down on her. Within moments she was asleep.
6.
The light was still blaring but this time it wasn’t silent and calm, there was commotion all around her. Chantel opened her eyes and sat bolt upright, her palms sweating and her heart pounding.
She could see the black crack had appeared again on the wall and a doorway was open. Somewhere, out in the hall, there was banging and crashing and the sounds of a struggle. She climbed off the bed slowly and although she didn’t even know where she was, she knew she had to look.
As she approached the doorway and went to push it open she was stopped by a hand appearing around the frame and pushing her back inside. She screamed as she tumbled backwards but a man came heaving through the door ahead of her and closed it behind him, the line of the doorway completely disappearing again as if it had never even been there.
He panted and tried to regain his breath as he bent down and put a big hand on Chantel’s shoulder.
“Are you alright?” he asked.
Chantel was trembling, and she hadn’t even dared look at him, but as her eyes travelled up his rippling rock hard torso, she was instantly aware that he wasn’t the man from the party or the one who could have been his twin that had visited her earlier. This man in front of her now was tall and blonde with ice blue eyes that were so intense they made her gasp. He was so handsome, like nothing she had ever seen before. When they had walked into the party earlier that night she had thought that the host was other-worldly and attractive, but this man now was so much more. He was like another entity altogether and she couldn’t stop herself from staring at him. She was completely lost for words.
“Are you okay?” he asked again as he took hold of her other shoulder and shook her slightly.
“Yes,” she gasped. “But I don’t know what is happening.”
He smiled with a warm, open look and then sighed.
“Well, it just so happens it’s your lucky day.”
Chantel watched as he got to his feet and lifted his wrist to his lips. He whispered something into what looked like a watch, in a language she didn’t recognize, before he held out his hand and helped her to her feet.
Outside in the hallway the commotion started up again. It sounded as if a group of people were trying to break their way in. The calmness that had been flowing through her had now completely disappeared and she was on high alert.
“Who are they?” she asked with panic. “And who are you?”
The man looked at her and smiled before he took hold of her hand and said, “My name’s Eli, and I’m here to save your life.”
Her heart began to race and even though he was smiling, the noise out in the hallway was causing her anxiety. There was someone trying to break in, and now this Eli was saying he was going to save her life! What was happening!
“Who are they?” she screamed.
“They’re bad news,” Eli said as he gripped her hand and looked down at his wrist. “But don’t worry, as I said, today is your lucky day.”
She noticed the black line of the doorway forming again in the center of the wall and she screamed as she buried her head into Eli’s chest and begged him to get them out of there. He smiled at her and ran a hand through her hair before suddenly and without warning her whole body felt as if it was burning up and there was a gigantic crack of white light all around them.
She woke up on the floor, sprawled out and bewildered as to what had just happened. When she opened her eyes and looked around she thought she was in the same room as she had been in before, but as her eyes focused she realized it was different.
As she looked at the walls she saw color begin to form on them and scenes of a forest took shape before her eyes. Her mouth gaped open as all around her she could hear the sounds of running water and birds singing, it was as if she was in the middle of a beautiful clearing, watching a river flow ahead of her as salmon jumped up the rocky waterfalls.
“Is this better?” Eli’s voice came from behind her and she jumped.
“What the hell?” she asked with complete shock. “What is this place?”
Eli smiled as if he was letting her in on a secret and then he took a step towards her.
“This is the middle of the universe,” he grinned. “The very center… the core of everything.”
Chantel took a step back and shook her head.
None of this made any sense. But she had the overwhelming feeling that every word was true.
7.
“The middle of the universe?” she asked in disbelief. “What does that even mean?”
“What you would think it meant,” Eli laughed. “I know it’s overwhelming, that’s one of the reasons I thought the forest would be a nice scene… something you’re used to.”
“Okay…” Chantel trailed off, unsure of what to say next.
“Not many people have been here. You’re one of the very privileged few.” He smiled as he rubbed his hands together.
“And what about those other guys? The man from the party?”
Eli sucked in a lung full of air and exhaled loudly.
“You really don’t want to know.” he scratched the back of his white blonde hair.
“No really, I do,” she said defiantly. “I want to know what the hell is going on, not just all of this cryptic stuff you keep telling me!”
“Okay,” Eli smiled as he sat down on a plush green chair and patted the space next to him.
Chantel crossed over reluctantly and sat down. Her feet were aching and she was suddenly very tired. Even after all of the rest she had had, she was exhausted. It was as if her body had been put through its paces with the travelling from dimension to dimension.
“The place where we’ve just been, it’s a very dark place indeed,” Eli sighed. “The man who had visited you in the room where you were held, he is an Alien Lord from the planet X-11… a slave planet.”
“What… the…?” Chantel’s head was spinning.
Alien Lord?
Slave Planet?
None of this made any sense to her.
“You were taken there so they could extract your eggs or use you for breeding. Humans make an ideal slave race for creatures like the ones who inhabit X-11,” Eli said it almost as if it was an apology.
“Creatures?” she asked with confusion. “But they look so… so normal…?”
“They do on the outside,” he smiled. “But inside, nothing is the same.”
“And the guy from the party?” she asked. “He looked exactly like the man back at the white room. Who is he? Is he in on it?”
Eli nodded.
“Yes, the host from the house you were taken from, he is a humanoid from X-11. His role is to group together a large number of fertile women, ready to be taken and collected. The finest are usually chosen and the other’s discarded.”
“Discarded?” Chantel felt her chest tighten.
“Yes,” Eli dropped his gaze. “Those women are usually killed.”
“Would I have been killed?” she asked with wide eyes.
“Eventually,” he said with a sigh. “You were one of the chosen ones… fertile, beautiful, strong genes… but eventually once they had used you, you would have been discarded like the others.”
Chantel felt tears well up behind her eyes. She had nearly been used for breeding by an alien race wanting to grow a planet of slaves. Earlier that day she had just been a student and a waitress and now she was travelling through time and space with the most attractive man she had ever seen, and whilst none of it made any sense, she was the happiest and felt the most alive than she had ever been.
“I don’t know what to say.” she said.
Eli nodded slowly and got to his feet. “This is a lot to take in,” he said. “If we hadn’t been intercepted during my attempt to rescue you I would have kept you in a state of sleep until I had returned you back to Earth. That way it would have felt like none of this had really ever happened.”
“Like a bad dream?” she laughed.
“Something like that,” Eli smiled.
“And you?” she asked. “Who are you, Eli?”
“I’m from a very advanced race of humans. We live here, at the center of the Universe, and recently one of our major campaigns has been to stop planets like X-11 from exploiting the human race for their own gain. We heard about what was happening… the abductions, the breeding programs, the brutality… and we have been intercepting as many abductions as we can ever since.”
“So… I was… abducted?” she asked with fear.
“Oh yes,” Eli said. “From what I saw in your case, you were gathered to a point where X-11 knew plenty of suitable women would be available, and then once the meteor shower began, they used it as a cover to spirit you away.”
“Wow.” Chantel whispered as she cast her mind back to being out in the yard alone. How she had felt so in awe of the stars above her and what she was witnessing. It had been magic, but now she knew she would never be able to look up into the night sky in the same way ever again. She had learned so much in such a short space of time, and now she knew secrets of the universe. She knew that Earth was not alone, and that people were visited and taken by aliens for experiments and breeding programs.
“Are you alright?” Eli rested a strong hand on her shoulder and she turned to him and smiled.
“I’m just trying to get my head around all of this,” she admitted. “It all seems too farfetched, but at the same time I know it’s all real.”
“As I said before, not many have been privileged as you have been, use the information wisely,”
“What do you mean?” she sat up straight and looked deep into his eyes.
“I mean, don’t return to earth and regret what you say about your experience.”
Chantel knew without asking him what he meant. She had read articles in newspapers and seen things online, men and women who claimed they had been taken by alien beings. Everyone just thought they were crazy, no one truly believed that aliens existed.
“I won’t be telling a soul,” she said.
“Not only that,” Eli smiled. “But you have a chance to be a part of something incredible.”
“I do?” she asked as she looked deep into his crystal blue eyes yet again. He smiled at her and nodded and she felt something inside of her click into place. Eli was someone she had been destined to meet, she could tell just by the way they looked at one and other.
“You must be tired,” he said, breaking her gaze and the subject. “Take the bed in the corner,” he turned and pointed to a fluffy circular bed which looked out over the mountain forest scene. “I’ll be back for you,” he said as he took her hand and led her over to the bed.
“Where are you going?” she suddenly didn’t want him to leave her. He was the only person she trusted in this crazy situation.
“I’ll be right outside,” he assured her.
Chantel climbed into the soft, warm covers and as Eli waited by the door the lights went low and the sounds of nature quietened into a comforting hum.
She watched Eli disappear through a doorway and she was once again alone. Her eyelids were heavy and it wasn’t long before yet again she was fast asleep.
8.
The trickling water seemed to be running all around her, and when she opened her eyes and stretched her arms high above her head she felt more rested than she ever had. The room was waking up at the same time she was. The scenes on the walls of the mountains and forest were coming to life before her very eyes. The sun was rising and the birds began to sing. She looked out at it all and couldn’t help but smile. Earth really was beautiful. She had never really appreciated it so much before, but she knew now that she was lucky to have such an incredible planet.
There was a knock somewhere behind her and a buzz as the doorway began to appear on the white wall. In seconds Eli was stepping through it and Chantel smiled. She felt her grin go from ear to ear. She was happy to see him, and relieved, even though she had slept the entire time he had been away, all she wanted was to be close to him.
“How are you feeling?” he asked her.
Chantel smiled and nodded, but found it hard to find the words to respond as she was too busy staring at him. It was as if her sleep had wiped her memory clean of how intensely attractive he was. He had changed and was now wearing a tight leather-look pair of trousers with a big buckled belt and a tight black shirt. They gripped his muscular physique perfectly and Chantel could see the large swell of his bulging arms beneath the fabric. She swallowed hard and tried to snap herself away, but she just couldn’t, he was so hot and unusual it was driving her wild.
“Here,” he reached out and passed her a tray with some water and toast. “It’s not much, I know, but it’s all we have.”
“Thank you,” she took the tray from him and placed it down next to her on the bed. As she sipped the water she began to feel reborn, the last time she had drunk anything had been the vodka and lime back at the house party.
“Do you not eat here?” she asked him as he watched her nibbling the toast.
“No,” he shook his head. “We have no need for things like that anymore.”
“What do you mean?” she sat up and listened intently.
“Well, as I said before, we are an advanced race. We don’t need to sustain ourselves with food and water any longer.”
“What do you do instead?” Chantel leaned forward as if she could hear him better by being an inch closer.
“We control everything our body needs via this,” he held up his hand and Chantel noticed a red dot on his palm.
“What is it?” she squinted as she tried to get a closer look.
“It’s a port, we use it to give ourselves everything we need… food, liquids, rest, education, sex…”
“Sex?” she nearly choked on her toast. “What, you mean you don’t…?”
Eli shrugged and shook his head.
“We have no need to,” he said glumly. “The universe is a vast pl
ace, we are all about maximizing our time to make the most impact and travel as far and wide as we can.”
“So, how do you… keep the race going?” she asked with embarrassment.
“Breeding programs,” Eli said matter-of-factly. “But not like the one you were almost forced into. Our men and women are still family units, yet we simply create new beings instead of growing them in our own bodies.”
“Wow,” Chantel exhaled. She didn’t know where to look or what to think. She couldn’t imagine a world without any enjoyment. No food, no drinks, no real experience… and no sex? How could they be happy?
“And do you have a family unit?” she asked sheepishly. “I mean, do you have a woman?”
Eli looked up at her and their eyes met again.
“I am always travelling across the cosmos,” he said. “It wouldn’t be fair for me to keep a family unit back here.”
Chantel felt a pang of sympathy for him. He was so good looking, so well-groomed and so physically fit, it seemed an impossible concept that his body should go untouched and unloved. Much like her own.
As they stared at each other, Chantel felt something growing between them. It was as if they both knew what they wanted, but neither of them dared reach out and take it.
“Would you like to?” she asked bravely. “Experience sex?”
Eli licked his bottom lip and she could sense his arousal growing.
“I would like that very much,” Eli said deeply.
As she watched his breathing become heavier, she felt a heat rise within her that she hadn’t felt for some time. She was already getting wet just by looking at him, so the idea of him having his hands all over her was almost too much to bear.
“Eli,” she whispered. “I want you…”
A wicked smile flickered over his face and he got to his feet. As he began to walk towards her Chantel could see the tightness that had grown in his pants and the way his demeanor was changing.
DIESEL (Forsaken Riders MC Romance Book 13) Page 104
