by Cynthia Lore
“Yes!” Markar glared at her. “It is mandatory until the threat has passed!”
Rae glared back at him, but she could see his point. She didn’t want to leave her current mutually beneficial relationship with an alien, to be taken into an unknown situation. At least the bedroom issue wouldn’t be too awkward since Morians didn’t have the whole female/male dynamic. Shrugging her shoulders at Markar, Rae simply said “Okay.”
The Visitor
Rae glared at Markar over their morning meal. This was the third night in a row she had hardly gotten any sleep. The big alien was a damn furnace. Every night the bedroom was so hot it was almost unbearable, and he kept tossing and turning whenever she finally started to drift to sleep. The only thing keeping her from chewing him out over the whole scenario was the fact that Markar looked even worse than she felt. It was obvious neither one of them was getting the kind of sleep they needed to stay on top of their game for the possible surprise guest.
Sighing in disgust, she leaned back in her chair and waited for Markar to finish his meal. He was taking the whole never-leaving-her-side thing a little too seriously for Rae’s liking. The only way she got any alone time was when she went to the bathroom, and she had to fight for that right. There was only one more situation that she would demand being alone for, and that was showering. She had been putting it off as long as possible for the fear that Markar would insist on tagging along for that too, but she couldn’t stand another day without feeling clean.
“I need to take a shower.” At her statement Markar paused mid-chew to glower at her. She watched as he slowly finished his meal. Rae didn’t want to push him further. They were both on edge lately, and she was saving all her fight for arguing for bathing alone.
When Markar was finally done they both got up and headed for the bathing facilities in silence. Rae entered the room and turned around to see Markar enter it as well. She put one hand up to stop him from coming any further. “I don’t want you in here while I bathe.”
He scowled down at Rae, but to her great surprise, Markar turned around and left without comment. It was a sign of how strained their relationship had gotten that they both could hardly stand talking to one another.
Rae went over and checked to make sure the door was shut. There was no lock on it, but she peered out the small window to see that Markar had settled himself a little down the hallway. As if he could sense her gaze, he looked up at her and they exchanged one final glare.
She took her time showering. She wasn’t sure when she was going to get another one with their whole situation. She was also just too tired to move fast. When she had finally finished, dried, and dressed herself, Rae turned to leave. Markar’s face was plastered to the small window in the door. It was such an invasion of her privacy, that Rae didn’t think before she stormed towards him and slammed the door into his voyeuristic face.
It didn’t make the painful contact Rae was hoping for. Charging into the hallway, she was caught completely off guard when Markar swung her off her feet and pressed her against a wall with his body. She could hear his heavy breathing against her ear, and it ratcheted her heart rate even higher than it already was. She tried to push against his chest, but it had no effect, and when she started to struggle, she only became more aware that his hips were nudged tightly against the inside of her thighs. At that realization Rae came up out of her shock and was about to fight back in earnest when she heard Markar murmur against her neck. “Please, Rae! I do not know what to do and I feel as if I am dying.”
Her hands paused from trying to search out ways to inflict pain, and instead settled on his shoulders. “What’s wrong?” she whispered back, as if afraid she would startle a wild animal.
“I think I have fallen in love with you.”
Before Rae could respond to that, Markar moved his head lower and licked her from her collarbone to her earlobe in one slow movement. Rae’s response to that caress made her gasp in shock. His tongue heated every inch of skin it touched to an almost burning sensation, and the tidal wave of arousal that went through her made all brain function disappear. Grasping his shoulders, Rae’s head rolled backwards in unconscious invitation. Markar shifted her body upwards to better align their hips as he pressed his body more tightly against hers.
Rae was so delirious with passion that she was completely disoriented when Markar shoved her back in the shower room and left her. Clumsily falling on her ass, she sat there trying to shake herself out of the cloud of arousal Markar had put her in. That is when she finally heard the commotion in the hallway. Scurrying over to the door, Rae poked her head out and saw two Morians fighting. One was Markar, and the other was the man from the video. He had decided to drop in at the worst possible time.
“Talk about an intergalactic cock-block.” Rae murmured to herself. Speaking of which, how the hell was Markar attracted to her in the first place, let alone in love with her? His species didn’t have females! They did have cocks, though, if that bulge she had felt in his pants was anything to go by. Rae blushed thinking about how easily Markar had taken over her body. It wasn’t like she wasn’t already attracted to him, but she had lost all coherent thought awfully fast. Rae absently rubbed her neck where Markar had licked her.
More crashing noises from down the hall woke her up from her daydreaming. The fight had moved to one of the other rooms in the ship. Slowly sneaking towards the sounds, Rae’s hands itched for a good weapon. Peeking around the door to the kitchen, Rae saw Markar and the other alien rolling on the floor trying to choke the living daylights out of one another.
Rae did not want Markar to loose. He was the only one she could trust. The fight looked like it was in a stalemate, so Rae decided to try to help it along. Looking around desperately for something to use as a weapon, she realized anything substantial was bolted to the ship. Going through the kitchen cabinets, Rae grabbed the only thing she could think of that wasn’t fixed to the floor: food. Taking one of the packets, she lobbed it at the enemy. Instead of hitting him, it contacted the wall behind the two men with a solid splat. They looked up at her at that, both pausing with their hands around the other’s throat.
“What was that for?” Markar finally said.
Rae was frozen in shock. She hadn’t expected to catch both of their attention so quickly. “Uh… you were fighting?” she managed to say.
“Yes. We were fighting for dominance.” Markar said conversationally as he pushed himself from the floor, kneeing the other Morian in the process. “I have already established mine five times.” he said dryly while glaring at the newcomer.
Rae’s mouth gaped open in confusion. “I don’t understand. Is he going to try to kidnap me or not?” She took a step back, still on edge from the fighting. Markar looked at the alien lying on the floor speculatively. Rae followed his example and was surprised to find that the man was completely focused on her. His intense stare made Rae uneasy. Despite the fact that he looked a lot like Markar, there were enough differences that Rae could easily tell the two apart. His hair was a lighter color, and his features were harsher, but they were both huge men, which made Rae think their large size was a species wide trait. Rae was a strong woman, but she wasn’t sure she was up to fighting men that had that much muscle. Swallowing nervously, she took another step backwards.
Markar seemed to notice her anxiety. “Why don’t you leave us alone for a while, Rae? There are some things we must discuss.” Rae hesitated to leave. Despite how much she wanted to flee, she felt like she would be leaving her fate in Markar’s hands. Looking up at him, she wondered if she could trust him or not.
“Do not worry. I will keep you safe. You are mine…” Markar’s gaze moved leisurely down her body. “To interview.” he added only after his eyes finally moved upwards and he saw that Rae was frowning at him.
Feeling Territorial
Markar regretfully watched Rae leave. If only the piece-of-shit still lying on the floor of his galley wouldn’t have interrupted them. He wanted to fee
l Rae’s soft small body pressed against his again. He wasn’t sure what else he wanted, but Rae said it had something to do with getting inside of her, which didn’t sound like a bad idea at all. Markar wanted to plaster his body over hers until they were almost inseparable.
“Oww!”
Looking down at his feet, Markar saw that the other man had latched onto his ankle with his teeth. Prying the jaw off of him, Markar lifted the man off the floor by his collar and slammed him against a wall a couple times. “What the hell, Jakar! What’s wrong with you?”
“I could ask you the same question, brother!” Jakar growled back. “You attacked me first!”
Markar had the decency to be embarrassed by that fact, but his embarrassment only served to make him angrier. “You came onto my ship uninvited!”
“Since when has any Morian denied the chance to see another living soul out in the black depths of space!”
“So you are saying the only reason you transported to my ship is to see me?” Markar narrowed his eyes suspiciously at Jakar. “Then you won’t mind if we go ahead and get that over with now, and then you can leave.” Markar saw the man’s eyes shift around desperately while he thought of a response to that.
“You cannot keep a creature from another world as a pet, Markar.” he spat out triumphantly as soon as the thought came to him.
“Rae is not a pet! She is here willingly.” As soon as Markar said the words, he knew he had made a mistake. Jakar was his brother, one of the few born in the same cloning pool as Markar. They had grown up together, but right now he felt no loyalty to anyone where it concerned the human woman on his ship. He new it was irrational, but he felt an almost all consuming need to possess Rae. The nights spent sleeping at her side were some of the best and worst moments of his life. He had stayed awake for hours just staring at her. She was the sweetest torture he had ever experienced, and he knew he would die to keep her as his.
“Is that what she is called? Rae?” Jakar pried Markar’s hands off of his shirt. “Why would she be here willingly? Besides the point, it’s against protocol.”
Markar backed away from his brother, glaring at him distrustfully. “I needed to further examine her species and she agreed. It is not directly forbidden.” Markar could feel jealousy begin to churn within him as he watched the curious light brighten in Jakar’s eyes.
“What species is she? Are they intelligent?” Jakar leaned around Markar as if he would somehow see Rae. Markar watched his brother’s actions, recognizing everything Jakar was feeling, and tried to analyze it rationally. It was a hard thing to do when the urge to pummel Jakar until he couldn’t even think of the human was surging through his veins.
“You are experiencing it too? The desire to be near her?” he asked, unable to keep the petulant tone out of his voice. He already knew the answer was yes.
Jakar looked at him with surprise. “You feel it as well? It is overwhelming!”
Markar couldn’t help but roll his eyes at that comment. “I must admit the pull is strong, but it can be controlled.” he said in a dry tone. His face reddened as he remembered that only a few moments ago Markar had not shown much restraint. “That is why I brought her here, to conduct further research into this anomaly. You are jeopardizing the research by intruding.”
The other alien had the decency to look troubled by that. “Don’t you think it would be easier to research the reaction if there were two of us?” he said hopefully.
“NO!” Markar’s violent reaction shocked them both into silence for a moment. “She is mine.” He could have added a more sensible reason for his refusal, but Markar couldn’t think through the red haze of anger. Taking deep breaths, he tried to control his reaction. “As you can see, I am already acutely affected. Not only do I not think anyone else should be put through this until I can determine if there is any danger, but on a personal level, I can not stand the thought of anyone else being around her.”
Jakar watched Markar with sympathy. “It is that bad?”
“Yes, the reactions are that consuming.” Markar considered the time he had spent with Rae. “But it is not all bad. Being around her is very pleasurable.” As an after thought he added, “Just not you.”
Jakar frowned and titled his head curiously at that. They had known each other their entire lives. As with any clones formed in the same batch, they had bickered and fought as youths, but with the years had come a strong bond. That a creature from another planet could so quickly secure Markar’s loyalty was troublesome. “This could have a devastating effect on Morian society. Are all individuals on the planet like her?” Jakar asked with wonder in his voice.
“No. Most of her species is like us, but on average slightly smaller. She is the first of her kind I have encountered.” Markar thought back to his conversations with Rae. “She seemed to indicate there are more like her.”
“That is hard to believe.”
Markar glared daggers at Jakar. He didn’t know how much more of this he could take. With every wistful comment Jakar made, he wanted to beat him senseless. “Rae is mine!” he growled.
“You have already established that.” Jakar responded.
Markar shifted self-consciously. “I am feeling very territorial.” He said in way of an apology.
Suddenly, the grating sound of metal on metal could be heard throughout the craft. The two aliens jerked their heads in the direction of the awful sound. Markar groaned in exasperation, realizing what must be making the hellish noise. Turning towards his brother, Markar halted him. “You must promise, for my sake, to not touch Rae. Do not even get near her. In fact, do not look at her. Do not test my restraint! I cannot handle anyone encroaching in this research.”
Jakar slowly pulled Markar’s hands off of him. Looking uneasily at his brother, the reality of the situation began to sink in. Markar could not control his territorial reactions to the creature at all. The being was beautiful to look upon, but surely this obsessive behavior was uncalled for. Markar shook Jakar’s shoulders impatiently. “You must promise me!”
Markar kept eye contact with him, as if searching his soul for lies. The panic Jakar saw in his sibling actually frightened him. Swallowing uncertainly, he responded.
“I swear.”
Jakar wondered if he would live to regret the vow. He watched as Markar turned on his heel and sprinted out down the hallway. The harsh metallic screeching could still be heard echoing throughout the ship. Sighing in resignation, he followed at a more leisurely pace.
At least he was no longer bored. Space could be so monotonous!
Weapons
Markar ran right for where he knew Rae would be: his War Room. After she had dismantled the locked door the first time, he had spent long hours getting it back to functioning again. He had even added a more secure locking system, which was now making the torturous screeching as it was slowly forced to slide open.
Storming into the room, Markar headed straight for Rae. “Dammit woman! I do not want to spend the rest of my life fixing that door!” She was crouched on the floor, apparently trying to hold onto every weapon in the room at once. At his entrance her eyes widened in guilt.
Prying the guns she was holding out of her hands, Markar lifted her by her upper arms to a standing position. Looking her body over for any injuries, he relaxed slightly when he saw that there were none. “Why do you insist on handling these weapons? You do not know how to use any of them!”
“Maybe because I don’t have anything else to defend myself with? And I’m scared!” Rae did not mean to say that last part. She was worried for her future now that she was outnumbered by aliens and in space, but she didn’t want anyone to know that, including herself. Her accidental revelation made her angry that she was giving in to her cowardice, and she jerked her body out of Markar’s hold.
She was immediately sorry for her aggression when she saw the pained look on his face. “I will never hurt you Rae. Surely you know that by now?”
Yes, she did know that. He had
never threatened her. In fact, he had just recently tried to protect her. Rae was not too proud to accept the protection. It only served to make her feel closer to Markar, as if they were fellow soldiers in the same unit, depending on each other for their lives. Looking up at him, she bit her lip nervously. “What about the other guy?”
At her question, the alien himself walked into the room. Markar gestured towards him. “This is Jakar, my brother. I have talked to him and he has promised not to touch you. You do not need to fear him. Right, Jakar?”
Turning to face his brother, Markar waited for his response. After watching the blank look on Jakar’s face for a moment he remembered that he had spoken in English. Switching over to their native language, Markar decided to get straight to the point. “Nod your head at her.”
Rae watched the newcomer shake his head vigorously with an awkward smile plastered to his face. She frowned slightly at his wide grin and concluded that she was not reassured at all. “Don’t you have a handgun I could carry around to protect myself?” Rae turned to face Markar and could see the ‘no’ already forming in his mind. “I dropped mine when you took me from Earth.” She felt bad that she was trying to guilt him into giving her a gun, but Rae had had a gun on her ever since she joined the military. Now, especially since she felt threatened, she would absently grab for her holster for reassurance and find nothing there.
Markar bent down to dig in the pile of weapons at Rae’s feet. Pulling out one of the smaller items, he held it out for her to inspect. “This one can stun a man and has unlimited energy.” He showed her how to operate it.
Rae sneered in displeasure at the small handgun. “Don’t you have any phasers that are set to kill in this place?” Markar frowned at her a moment and then reached for one of the largest weapons off of the wall. When he dropped it into Rae’s eager arms it was so heavy that she almost toppled over, and probably would have if Markar hadn’t steadied her.
