Alien Romance: Arcturus Mates Complete Series (Book 1 - 9): Scifi Alien Abduction Romance (Alien Invasion Romance, Alien Romance)

by Julia Sexton

  “That may be so,” Jack said quietly. “But it doesn’t make me feel a whole lot better. Let me have this comfort.”

  Natasha bit her lip, thinking hard. Jack was rarely so emotional and it seemed he genuinely wanted to make up for lost time, though truth be told Natasha had never been one to give it much thought. She didn’t want to pile all her troubles on his doorstep, so she threw a curveball.

  “I am thinking of moving back,” she said, voicing something that she had only thought and the impact of the words hit her as they hit him. She saw in his face an array of emotions: bafflement followed by more concern.

  “Back? But why?” Jack said.

  “Because I think I need time to think things through, slow it down a bit. This isn’t working for me, the city life, so far.”

  “But, what will you do?” he said, still not completely accepting this.

  “Like I said, I am still thinking things through. The first few weeks will be hard, I know, but I’ll manage.”

  “Did something happen?” Jack said.

  “No,” Natasha said, exasperated. “Nothing happened. It is just something I want to do. It might be a step in the right direction. Nothing has to go wrong for me to make a big decision. Sometimes it just happens when things aren’t going your way. It is as simple as that.”

  Jack nodded, though Natasha was sure that he was giving in temporarily and she would get a lot of phone calls when she heads back to her hometown. She mentally prayed that Jack get busy in his life and doesn’t delve into hers too much because at this moment, she didn’t need any more confusion. She was making it up as she went and she didn’t need that realization crammed in her face.

  Just at that moment, Mike, Becca and Jenna returned from outside, laughing about some joke Jenna was telling them about Jack and their son and Natasha felt relieved.

  The night wore on and the family ate and talked about old times. Jenna told the story about how Jack proposed to her which Jack had never told a soul, and he was red faced during the whole thing. Mike and Becca were occupied with the plans for their honeymoon. It was a one month excursion into Europe and a final week in Monte Carlo. One by one, people started to go to sleep as the night deepened.

  First it was the newlyweds Mike and Becca and nobody pretended they didn’t know why they were so eager to go to bed. Jenna then got up and took Jack’s hand, though it looked like Jack wanted to spend some more time with Natasha and talk things through. Natasha was happy that Jack could not say no to Jenna because he got up and Jenna led her husband to their room. Natasha was sitting alone, looking into the embers of the fireplace, a shawl covering her from the cold. She realized it was time to go to bed, and she got up and left the living room.

  When she was on the first floor landing, where her room was, she felt a disturbance below. She peeked downstairs and saw that Jenna and Jack were standing in the kitchen, not having made their way to the room, and were kissing passionately. Jenna was pushed against the counter as their lips seemed glued together. Not wanting to be caught seeing this display of affection, Natasha tiptoed to her room and closed the door quietly and fell on the bed.

  The last thought in her mind was that the move to her hometown was going to change things, in a big way.

  She was right.

  Chapter 4

  The movers were taking out boxes from the car, as Natasha stood in the doorway of her new home. It had been years since she had come back in this town but it was still the same old. The streets looked the same, even the bars and the shops were the same. Usually one felt bad for such consistent stalling, but Natasha felt comforted by the stability. She felt that the chaos in her life paralleled well against the uniformity of this town.

  She had just told one person that she was coming back, mainly because she didn’t know many who still lived here. It was Nancy, her best friend from high school. They had lost touch over the years but still remembered each other fondly. When Natasha had called to tell her that she was coming back, Nancy had the tact to avoid asking intrusive questions over the phone and just be happy that her old friend was coming.

  Currently, Natasha was standing on the doorstep of her home, which had been empty for the past few months. Earlier, they had been renting it out to various families, but it was sitting empty at the moment and Natasha jumped at the opportunity to live there.

  She walked up to the curb to have a look around, tinker some old memories. She looked at one end and saw the cream colored house of the Joneses. They always gave most of the candy to her when she went trick or treating to their place. She moved her gaze to the other end and at the far side of the street; she saw a figure, a tall, athletic, muscular figure.

  At such a distance, she could not make out the face but something about this person felt familiar to her. She could not place it but she was sure that it was not the first time that she was looking at this particular frame. The person was looking in the direction of her house and she was not sure if he was staring at her or not. The idea was not exactly comforting and she felt a little disturbed.

  Before she could do anything, her cell phone rang. She took it out and looked at the screen and saw Nancy’s name on the screen. She picked up the phone again and looked up to see the man again but he was not there. She saw him walking away.

  “Hi,” Nancy’s animated voice said on the line.

  “Hi,” Natasha said distractedly, still not sure where she had seen that man.

  “Have you moved in?” Nancy asked her.

  “Yeah,” Natasha said and composed herself. “Yeah, almost.”

  “Great,” Nancy said and Natasha could feel that she had something cooked up in that perennially lit up brain of hers.

  “Here’s what I was thinking: what about I come by your place after work, we go out, have a drink, meet a few people, and refresh your memories of this place.”

  “Sounds like a plan,” Natasha said. Although she was tired, she wanted to see Nancy and get out of her mind frame. She was ready to say yes.

  “Great,” Nancy said again. “I will be at your place in a couple of hours.”

  “Hey, listen,” Natasha said.

  “Yeah?”

  “Do you know some guy who moved in my street? I saw someone new in the street. Tall, athletic.”

  “It’s been years since you went away. Tons of people moved in and moved out. Did he do something, this guy?”

  “No. He was just looking at me from across the street.”

  “Damn, girl, you are lucky. You have been here less than twenty four hours and already guys are checking you out.”

  Natasha laughed, feeling lighter. She said to Nancy that she would see her later and cut the call.

  She put the mysterious stranger at the back of her mind and went to her room, where the boxes had been laid down. She started unpacking and was thinking about what she would do tomorrow. She had formed no concrete plan when she decided that it was no use trying to plan, but for now, just live in the moment.

  In a couple of hours, Nancy came to her door and hugged her for a long time.

  “Wow, you look hot,” Nancy said looking at Natasha’s black skirt and jeans jacket.

  “Shall we go?” Natasha said, ignoring her comment.

  “You are ready to get your hair down, aren’t you?” Nancy said.

  “Day at a time.”

  Chapter 5

  Natasha was standing at the bar, with a drink in her hand. Nancy had gone to the ladies’ room. Natasha was feeling a heavy dose of nostalgia in the town. She knew several of the faces and she said hi to many people who came up to her at the bar, old acquaintances. Some came up to her and talked of old times. She had not anticipated so many people to remember her, but she felt elated.

  Currently, as she stood there sipping her drink, looking at the crowd around the bar, she was thinking what was taking Nancy so long.

  “I didn’t know you liked pina colada,” a voice said from behind her.

  She turned around and saw a
familiar face staring at her.

  “What?” she said.

  “It’s that stupid song,” replied Robert, another friend from her high school.

  She smiled at him. Robert was a sweet boy but there was nothing between them. They were just two people who went to the same high school, rarely talked to each other but knew of each other’s presence.

  “Fancy seeing you here,” Robert said. “I thought you were a big city girl now.”

  “I thought so too,” Natasha replied.

  “But you aren’t now?”

  “Life had different plans,” she replied.

  “I never knew for you to have such a defeatist outlook on life,” Robert said, and his words stung Natasha. It was the first teaser of how her reappearance at her hometown might look to the people.

  “Not defeatist, just realistic,” she said, wanting to explain more and in detail but she didn’t have the energy to go full throttle.

  “Often the two overlap, don’t you think?” Robert said, continuing his barrage of forward statements.

  “Jeez, you don’t sugar coat it, do you?” Natasha said.

  Robert smiled sheepishly.

  “I didn’t mean to sound rude,” he said. “I still haven’t gotten the hang of learning to talk to girls.”

  “It isn’t rocket science,” Natasha said.

  “So I’ve been told.”

  Natasha laughed. It wasn’t every day that you came across someone as brutally honest as Robert.

  “I wonder why we weren’t good friends in high school,” she mused.

  “Because I was too shy and you were too pretty,” Robert said.

  “Wow, and you said you didn’t know how to talk to girls. I’d say you are pretty well versed, my friend.”

  “Truth be told I wanted to be your friend but never found an in,” Robert replied.

  “You should have asked,” she said.

  “You make it sound way easier than it actually is,” Robert replied.

  Natasha was surprised how quickly she had found a groove with Robert and was immensely enjoying talking to him about old times. They talked about first jobs and college experiences.

  Natasha told Robert all about life in a big city, which seemed to baffle and intrigue Robert. He seemed to be positively inquisitive about these things and asked questions like a childlike curiosity; after a long time Natasha had talked so much and had been involved in the conversation so deeply.

  It dawned on her that Nancy had not been back yet and that started to worry her. She had been so captivated by telling stories of city life that it wiped everything from her mind.

  “Will you excuse me? My friend went to the ladies’ room ages ago and she hasn’t been back yet,” she said to Robert.

  “Maybe she met someone from her high school that wasn’t a very good friend,” Robert said.

  “I wouldn’t be surprised,” Natasha said and made her way to the ladies’ room. There was a line of women outside and Natasha could not see Nancy anywhere.

  She tried asking a couple of people from around there but it was a fool’s errand. These people couldn’t care less. She called Nancy on her cellphone but the call couldn’t get through.

  Finally, when Natasha was getting frustrated and starting to panic, she saw Nancy come out of the back room of the bar. Natasha walked to her.

  “WHERE have you been?” Natasha said and Nancy jumped.

  “Why are you shouting?” Nancy said, positively surprised.

  “You’ve been gone ages and your phone wasn’t connecting,” Natasha said.

  “I was in the loo, and after that I ran into some friends. I was having a drink round the back,” Nancy said nonchalantly, as if this was the most natural thing in the world.

  “And you didn’t think of dropping a text?” Natasha said. She was clearly not in the mood to let it go.

  “Jeez, Natasha, you are acting like my last two boyfriends,” Nancy said, rolling her eyes.

  Natasha was exasperated but also comforted by the fact that she had found Nancy. She didn’t know if she was overreacting or not but to her it felt important.

  “I saw you talking with Robert and you seemed to be having a good time, so I thought why not let you have a moment alone with him,” Nancy said.

  “Thanks,” Natasha muttered, feeling worse now.

  Nancy had good intentions and she had to yell at her for not showing up from the bathroom quickly enough, while all the time she was looking out for her. She felt like a terrible friend.

  “Don’t worry about it,” Nancy said, offhandedly. “Let’s get a drink.”

  The girls walked to the bar. Robert was still standing on the spot where Natasha had left him.

  “Hi,” Nancy said to Robert.

  He didn’t respond back but was staring at Natasha with wide eyes. She realized that Robert was white as a corpse at this point.

  “What’s wrong?” Natasha said, having no idea what happened to the jolly man she left literally five minutes ago.

  “You should have told me you came here with someone,” Robert said. His voice was uncharacteristically weak and Natasha and Nancy had to lean in to catch what he was saying.

  “I’m with Nancy, what’s wrong?” Natasha said again, surprised with this turn of events.

  Robert didn’t give any indication that he had seen Nancy.

  “The tall guy,” he said, stammering. “The really huge, tall guy. He was just here, looking for you.”

  “What are you talking about?” Natasha said, while Nancy looked on with mild irritation.

  “He just left a minute ago,” Robert said. “Out that way.”

  Natasha followed her gaze to where Robert was pointing. She saw out the window of the bar but couldn’t see anything. She ran outside, leaving Nancy shouting behind her. Her mind was reeling. She was sure that it was the same guy who was on her street this morning.

  When she walked out, there was no one in sight. The sounds from the bar were dimmed in the street and not even the bouncer was standing at the door. It looked odd to her.

  Before she could turn around, she felt a presence behind her and a hand covering her face and eyes. Then she was plunged in total darkness and lost her train of thought.

  Chapter 6

  Natasha woke up, feeling dizzy. Her first impression was that she shouldn’t have drunk so much booze. Her second one was that she, in fact, had not drunk so much booze. The hangover she was having was way out of proportion to the amount of alcohol she had consumed last night.

  She opened her eyes, taking in the surroundings. This was unlike any room she had ever been in her life. It was right out of a movie. Right in front of her were two mirrors facing each other. There was nothing in the space between the mirrors but they seemed to be reflecting an image, not unlike a television.

  She blamed it on disorientation in the morning and started to look at something to distract her. Her eyes fell on a wooden table top that looked ordinary enough; until, that is, when she saw that there were no legs on the table. The top seemed to be suspended in midair. On top of the table was a pen, or rather something that functioned like a pen. If she had to put a name to it, she would call it a quill. It was moving of its own volition.

  She got up from the bed and moved to the table top. She looked at what the quill was writing at. It was not paper or screen. It was something in between, translucent enough to be a screen but had the feel of a paper. She read a couple of lines and her breath caught in her throat: the quill was writing her movements of the day.

  The semi-darkness of the room, coupled with the weird twin mirrors and the self-thinking magic quill made her queasy. She wanted normality, she wanted light. She moved to what looked like a curtain beyond which there had to be a window. She pushed the curtain aside and gave a loud scream.

  She was wrong to think that this was a movie. She was looking at flying vehicles and disc like space objects that had no other name than UFOs. The sky wasn’t blue. It was a light purple and there
seemed to be two large orbs in the sky and one of them was definitely not the sun. There were structures like buildings but these structures seemed to be made of liquid made solid or something like that. They seemed to bend and move around to avoid the flying objects.

  “I see that you’re up,” a voice said from behind her.

  She didn’t think that she could scream this loud twice in two minutes but she did. This was not happening. This did not make any sense. She turned around and her jaw fell open.

  She could immediately place the man she was looking at; half dressed and all drowsy, entangled in the sheets she had just come out from. In her bewilderment, she had not noticed him lying on her side, which was a pity because he looked absolutely dishy.

  It was the stranger from Mike’s wedding who had shooed off Todd and she was now sure that this was the same man who had been looking at her from across the street.

  “Who are you?” she said, the first logical question coming to her mind. It seemed odd to her that she didn’t put more questions to him, to get to the bottom of this very weird trip.

  “I am Viktor of House Basilia,” he said proudly. She had no idea what that meant.

  “Where am I? What is happening to me? Did you give me some drugs or something? Is this because of a bad reaction?”

  Natasha was rambling on, trying to make sense of what was going on because so far she was in denial mode and she was not going to give in easily.

  “You are where you are supposed to be. It was written,” Viktor said. He looked like a man who was not used to being asked so many questions, or at least not by some girl.

  Then a thought hit Natasha.

  “Where are my clothes? Who changed me into these? Why were you in bed with me?”

  Viktor had seemed to anticipate this line of questioning and he was in no hurry to answer, despite impatience on Natasha’s part.

  “Don’t be in such a hurry. Settle in. Get dressed,” Viktor said calmly.

  “Dressed? Dressed in what? This isn’t my room. I don’t have clothes here,” she said, incredulously.