by Lina Jubilee
“Alaaarikkk!”
The last thing I saw was Alanna reaching over the edge of the cliff, as if the small length of her arm could ever hope to catch us.
Chapter Ten
As the mist engulfed us, Alarik pumped that vine like a lasso and he flung it. Miraculously, it hooked on something and he yanked us back toward the cliff.
I screamed at the sight of the rock face rising up to meet us, but he tugged hard on me, causing my own hand on the vine—which I hadn’t even realized was still gripping it for dear life—to slip as we moved down the length of the plant, ripping off little sprouting leaves as we fell.
I kept screaming and screaming and then we tumbled forward—into a hole in the rock face. We ran out of vine to slide down then and we still had to jump a couple of feet, stumbling, Alarik grunting as he wrapped himself around me with both arms and we rolled, tumbling and tumbling until stopped by a wall.
It was finally over. But my insides hadn’t gotten that memo. My heart racing, I gasped for shallow breaths, finding each one harder and harder to form.
“Aurora,” said Alarik. Seizing up, he let out a little grunt of pain as he shifted behind me, gently pushing me forward to put some space between us. He rolled me over so we were lying on the hard ground face to face. He took my cheeks in his hands, his one palm slightly rubbery and rough—the one that’d slipped us down the length of the vine, no doubt. “We’re alive,” he said. “We made it.” His voice was soft, like a mother trying to console a panicked child.
Closing my eyes, I counted my breaths. Despite the pain I felt at each inhale, I told myself I could still breathe. I just had to believe I could make do with the air I could get.
His own breaths were shallow beside me and we both lay there, quietly breathing for a while longer until I felt a light touch on my forehead and I opened my eyes to find him pulling his lips away.
This guy was nuts on so many levels.
I sat up, groaning as my head spun and I cradled it. “I can see in here,” I said, blinking. A violet light radiated from shiny spots along the walls.
Alarik shifted to sit up beside me. “There’s starlight in this mountain,” he explained.
“Starlight?” I asked, confused again by his reliance on that word. He’d compared my hair to starlight before.
He grunted and turned a hand toward the wall just slightly. “It’s what we call the sparkling crystals,” he said. “Since it reminds us so much of the sky at night.” He stared at me then, and I could feel the way he looked at me—not necessarily that he was undressing me with his eyes, but that he was just in awe of me.
I had no freaking idea why, though.
I took stock of my clothes and popped a boob half-tumbling out of the too-small tank top back in place. Alarik’s gaze lingered there as I did and I sighed, shifting my front away from him and hugging my legs to my chest. “Did you know this cave was here?”
“Not this cave exactly, no.” Alarik cleared his throat and shifted, his hand clutching at his arm. “But the mountains are peppered with them and I thought it best to see if we could reach one.”
“You’re hurt,” I grunted, not sure whether to care or not. He’d saved my life, but I wouldn’t have been in this position in the first place if he hadn’t kidnapped my friend and blackmailed me into joining him.
He pulled his fingers away from the wound and I was somewhat surprised to find he bled red like us. “It’s just a scratch,” he said, wincing.
I crawled closer to him to take a look. It seemed pretty deep. “If Roulette were here, she could heal us both in a snap,” I said, pushing aside the leathery material around his wound.
“Why do you think I kept her?” he said.
I poked him in the wound—a little too hard. His eyes closed and he took in a sharp breath.
“Oop, sorry,” I said wryly. “The thought of one of my best friends being held captive just makes me lose focus.”
He rolled his shoulder away and stared at me, his brows furrowing. “We haven’t hurt her.”
“Oh, that’s a relief,” I said. “And here I thought you tortured her or her boyfriend into revealing information about me—”
“Ah, the ghostly man,” he said, nodding. “We could tell he’d paid her a visit in her head as well.” He bit his lip. “We have a truth-puller among us. You saw him. He only needed to use his powers on her to get her to speak.”
“Zander said she was frightened into talking.”
“So she must have been.” He shrugged. “That’s a little how his powers work.”
Shaking my head, I let my lips grow thin.
“Your friend has amazing abilities,” he said. “Not just the healing of our kind—but the healing of our vines. She promotes quick and bountiful growth, though when we saw it wasn’t as fast or as bountiful as it had been back on your planet, Xerxes demanded she tell us why and she spoke of your boosting powers.” He took a rattling breath as he shifted to pull what appeared to be a length of plant-like gauze from a pouch at his waist. “I knew once we had the both of you, our limited journeys to Earth would be a success. We could achieve our goals much more quickly.” He winced as he unrolled the green gauze with one hand.
“Let me,” I snapped, snatching the gauze from him. He watched me cautiously, but I stayed true to my word and unrolled it, tearing off a small piece to dab at his wound before wrapping it. He clenched his teeth, drawing in a breath through them. “It’s not that bad,” I said, beginning to roll the remainder of the gauze around his bicep. “So what is your goal exactly? What are you doing on my planet on a daily basis trying to send vines every which way and destroying buildings?” I tucked the edge of the gauze inside the wrap.
“Our vines, given the right environment, can grow into trees,” he said. “They encourage native plant life to grow as well. We’re trying to return your land to what it’s meant to be.”
“So you’re an ecoterrorist?” He was framing his actions as if they were noble.
His eyebrow quirked. “I don’t know what that is, but if it means encouraging a planet to heal from damage done by its inhabitants, then yes.”
Chewing my lip, I thought about it—it wasn’t that I wasn’t into protecting the environment, but this… “You don’t care if people get hurt?”
He grunted and shifted his butt, leaning up against the cavern wall. “We try not to hurt anyone. But we know it’s inevitable.”
I thought back to Alanna rescuing me—but then the image of the boy with his bone sticking out of his arm in the middle of the tissues aisle flared brighter. My eyes narrowed. “Damn right, it’s inevitable. I don’t think anyone’s died yet—but let me tell you, that’s an outright miracle. People have gotten hurt. And you just took away the best healer my town has.”
A hollowing echo resounded and a burst of wind flurried past, sending Alarik’s long locks twirling above his head, but he didn’t flinch. I scrambled to keep my own hair from flying, covering my exposed ears with my arms to dampen the roaring noise.
“What was that?” I asked, breathing deep as the cavern quieted once more.
“Winds,” he said, as if it were obvious. Okay, so it was in a way. “It can get cold up here.”
“Tell me about it,” I said, shivering and running my hands up and down my arms, which did nothing to ease the goose bumps popping up on my skin. Once the adrenaline of the almost-fall had worn off, I supposed my body thought it time to react to the fact that I was still in this skimpy, too-small outfit I’d borrowed from Lila—and now I was lost in the middle of a cold cave in a cliff side with no hope of helicopters or rescues or anything.
Alarik moved to unfasten the knots threaded through loops that acted like buttons on his jerkin.
“What are you doing?” I asked, an accusatory tinge to my voice.
“You’re cold,” he said, sliding his injured arm out of a sleeve and wincing.
His jerkin was open now down the middle, his thin torso strangely extremely well-defined
and muscular, even if he didn’t reach bodybuilder levels of arm and torso thickness.
After drowning in how buff both Nash and Zander were, and even Jayden when I got a glance, I was surprised to find that Mama likey was the first thing to pop into my mind.
He took his other arm out with less obvious discomfort. “Here,” he said, handing the jerkin toward me with one hand. His hungry gaze sized my own torso up and down, lingering on the u-neck of my top where my breasts threatened to pop out again. “Your people let you walk around like that?”
Snatching the jerkin away from him and sliding an arm through, I growled. “Nobody lets me do anything,” I said. “I decide what I want to wear, just like any woman should.” I didn’t add that I wouldn’t have decided on wearing this, per se, but… After sliding on the second sleeve, my hand lingered on the blood-stained hole in the fabric and my gaze darted to his bandage. It didn’t look like it was bleeding through, but…
Damn, if I didn’t want to slide my fingers all over that hairless chest.
Alarik smirked and tilted his head back.
“What?” I asked, quickly fastening the knots to close the jerkin. The second knot down just popped right back out and I tried a couple more times before giving up. My boobs would not be confined within this slender man’s clothing.
“I don’t know if you think you’re hiding it,” he said, “but my people have an innate sense of the pheromones that exist between two or more. My sister knew just as I did the moment we met that you and I were meant to act on the attraction between us.”
Wait, what? And did he say two…or more?
Leaning away from the wall, he grabbed my arm and moved closer, his lips beside my ear. “Don’t deny that you want me.”
I ripped my arm out of his grasp as another blast of cold air sucked its way through the cavern and I shrieked, tumbling into his arms and slamming us both against the cavern wall before I even realized what I was doing.
He grunted as his injured arm hit the wall, but he took me roughly into his grasp, my face flush against one of his pecs. The warmth of his strange but smooth skin on mine did wonders to warm the iciness that the wind had caused to burrow into my flesh.
The gust died down and I was left with the hastened beat of his heart beneath my ear. Absentmindedly, I traced a finger beside my cheek over his chest at the sound. So they bled like us and they had hearts like us, too. The only difference seemed to be their ears, their slightly rubbery skin, and their powers—oh, and their desire to see my world turn back to prehistoric days.
Alarik’s little peal of laughter then was throaty and sent a hot, burning shiver roaring to my groin. “I see I don’t have to argue with you about this. Your actions speak for themselves.”
I darted up, some sense slapping into me. Gripping the open jerkin partially over my breasts in vain, I did my best to cool the wild ache stirring in my groin. “How do we get out of here?” I snapped. “So I can see Roulette.”
“So eager to return to your friend, are you?” He shifted, bringing one knee up, and picked at a loose thread on his pants. His pants were tight, his thighs thicker than I’d noticed, leading to a rather big bulge between them.
He snickered again and this time I saw his face as he laughed—knowing, cocky. Monstrously sexy, goddammit.
“Yes!” I said, back to the conversation that mattered.
“You know I never promised to let either of you go home,” he said.
My tongue traced circles under one of my incisors. I’d known that. But I’d thought maybe once I was near her, we’d figure it out. Jump through the next portal they opened. Take someone hostage and make them open a portal. I didn’t know. Something.
“I imagine a hundred scenarios to secure your freedom are racing through your head, but I assure you, not a single one will work.” He tapped the side of his head with a long finger. “I’ll outthink you at every turn.” He leaned closer, his voice groing huskier. “So why not just give in to me?”
Scoffing, I shuffled backward, noticing too late that squirming my butt only drew his ravenous eyes that way. “Fuck off,” I said. That only seemed to make him happier. Then, because I wanted to make him consider backing off, I added, “You didn’t seem to outthink that Xerxes dude back there.”
He scowled, pulling back. “Don’t speak of what you do not understand.”
It was my turn to laugh. “Sure, sure, Your Royal Asshole.”
He snatched my arm again then, pulling me closer. His nose twitched slightly and then he moved his head down the side of my face, down to my clavicle, hovering above my breasts. “I can smell the desire on you, starlight.”
Fuck. Fuck, don’t let it be true, I willed to myself. Stop getting turned on, you horny traitor, I added to my nether regions.
But there was no helping it. I was already buzzing down below, moisture clawing at the insides of these dumb leggings that would probably be the death of me when another blast of cold wind froze them to my pubic hair.
“All right,” I said, snatching my arm away from him once more. He looked amused but didn’t try to grip harder to stop me. “Then enlighten me on whatever it is you think I don’t know that would change my mind about you.”
“Oh, I’d love to enlighten you, starlight,” he said, his eyes drinking me in from top to bottom. “I bet whatever kind of mating ritual you’ve done on Earth, there’s plenty you don’t know.”
Fuuuuuck… Back to that again, were we?
Still, the comment was like an unintentional blow to the amazing experiences I’d had with both Nash and Zander, so I felt a little twinge in the back of my mind at the idea of even someone ignorant insulting my men. My men in the plural. Apparently.
But I had a singular goal now. Learn what I could and figure out how the hell we were getting out of here.
Tugging the jerkin tighter, I put on my game face, all-business. “How did you find Earth to begin with?”
Alarik leaned back, clearly amused. He rubbed a thumb and forefinger together as he leaned his forearm on his knee. “We’ve always known about your world since the dawn of our history. Our history tells of how it was once a beautiful place—bountiful and plenty—and that it was ruled by giant beasts—so much bigger than our biggest creatures, taller than the tallest trees—that roamed the lands.”
“Dinosaurs,” I said, pinching my lips. His people were old if they were cognizant enough to write histories of our world all those millions of years ago. “But it wasn’t us who did away with them. It was a meteor or an ice age or something. We’re not sure.”
“But it was you who rose from the ashes of their reign,” he said. “And you, not they, who took such poor care of the planet.”
I shook my head. “Since we look so much more like you than dinosaurs do, you’d think you’d feel some empathy.”
“Oh, we do,” he said. “We know you’re too stupid to think outside of your own immediate needs.” He slid closer another inch and his voice went low and sultry. “That can be a positive in certain situations, too.”
Quiet down, I shot to my libido. And learn when it’s appropriate to get turned on already.
“However, we—that is, some of us—are fascinated by what kinds of tools your kind creates,” he said. He dropped his hand off his knee and dug into the little pouch at his waist from which he’d drawn the leaf bandage. He held out a battered off-brand MP3 player in his palm and I had to cover my mouth to keep from showing the grin that appeared on my face. It didn’t stifle the giggles, though.
“What?” he asked, fishing out a pair of earbuds and bouncing the MP3 player in his palm. “Some of this stuff is quite riveting. We have music here, but your planet has such a vaster array.” He plugged the earbuds in—look at him, the little expert—and put one in his ear. Then, without asking, he leaned forward and put the other in mine, drawing us close. My palm fell from my face and his hand slipped behind my head as he laid his forehead gently against mine, closing his eyes. He hit a button on the MP3
player and even as another gust of wind made me jump, he gripped my head harder, keeping me riveted to the moment. I didn’t know what song to expect him to start playing, but it certainly wasn’t “Unforgettable” by Nat King Cole.
As the wind died down, I felt the warmth of his breath, heard the small punctuations of our inhales between the words of the song. When it ended, he hit another button and pulled the earbuds out of both of our ears, sliding the earbuds out and back into his pouch.
I felt cold at the absence of his nearness, even though he hadn’t pulled a great distance away. “Where did you get that?” I asked.
“I picked it up during one of our trips to Earth.”
“Where, the dump?” I asked. When he seemed uncertain as to what I meant, I felt it a bad idea to explain to an ecoterrorist that there were places where we just piled our garbage.
“I don’t know,” he said. “It looked like a home. It was in a cabinet my vine had grown through.” He fondled its surface. “I know… I know your people manipulated the natural sources of your planet to create such a thing.” He turned it over, then brought it to his lips, biting it, and I burst out laughing.
“What are you doing?” I asked. “You can’t eat that!”
His eyebrow quirked. “I wagered. Nor would I want to. It’s just…” His lips soured. “I’ve never tasted anything so vile. So unnatural.”
I rolled my eyes. “Then maybe don’t eat plastic and metal.”
He didn’t seem to like the sounds of those words. “It’s beautiful,” he said, holding it up again. It was a sleek red color. “But wasteful. Soon it will no longer play a song. It keeps beeping and warning me that it’s almost out of… bat-te-ry.”
“Well, back on Earth, you can recharge it,” I said and that caused him to look at me with eager eyes. “With electricity,” I added.
He frowned again. “That stuff created by putting poisonous gas in the air.”
“That’s a byproduct anyway,” I admitted. “Though we have completely clean ways to generate electricity. Some people do do it that way—just by absorbing sunlight or the strength of a gust of wind.”
