by Sierra York
Something was biting into his shoulder. The pain becoming so demanding that it snapped Grys from his daydreaming. Opening his eyes, he remembered where he was and what had happened as he pushed himself off the wall. His shoulder was wet. He turned and inspected the wall. Curiosity and thoughts of sabotage assaulted his brain; there was no reason the wall should be wet. Only if someone had done something to damage it.
There was a small purple puddle on the floor. Grys made a path from the floor, up the wall, to a screw that was protruding out of one of the vents. The screw was shiny with purple blood. Grys swore under his breath as he moved his left hand to his right shoulder only to pull it away covered in blood.
He hadn’t realized he was out for so long. Maybe Carissa really was scrambling his brains. He held his shoulder and began walking down the hall, clutching his shoulder to staunch the bleeding as he went.
He tapped lightly on the door but got no answer. Grys pushed the door open, and the sight before him took his breath. She was just as he’d pictured her. Her milky skin contrasted with the dark hair that was fanned out across his pillows, and he immediately felt what it was like to have her hair fall through his fingers. He gasped dropping his hand from his shoulder. He hadn’t been breaking the rules. She was.
Right after he’d had the thought, he got upset with himself. Carissa couldn’t really break the rules. She didn’t know about them. Grys had made a promise to himself that he’d give her time. Maybe time wasn’t what she’d needed, though. She had to have been thinking those things he was feeling in the hallway. There was no other way he’d know what her hair actually felt like. Their fated mate connection had given her away. She may not trust him completely, but she belonged to him anyway—in the physical sense at least.
Grys shook himself. His joy of realizing she wanted him as much as he wanted her dissipated as he realized that he still had to follow the rules. It was important to him that she was his completely. He only wanted to give all of himself if he could have all of her in return.
“Hey. What’s that on your shirt?” A soft voice drifted through the air.
Grys looked up from his musing and met sparkling green eyes. “Huh?”
She moved her eyes over his face and down to his chest. “Your shirt. What is that?”
He followed her eyes to his shoulder. He shook his head. “Just a little blood. Nothing to worry about.”
Carissa jumped out of bed. She wasn’t sure she’d ever moved so quickly. On her knees at the edge of the bed she began to fuss over him. “Blood? You’re hurt. How’d he hurt you?”
Grys couldn’t believe it. His fantasy, or her fantasy, was actually coming true. Here they were, gazing at each other with her hands pulling at the hem of his shirt. He put a hand over hers, stilling it against his belly. He used his free hand to lift her chin so she’d look at him. “I’m fine. Don’t worry. You think I’d let an Earthling hurt me?” He shook his head in disgust. “Never.”
Carissa ran her tongue across her lips and Grys almost lost his cool. Her eyes fluttered closed, and when she popped them open again he saw fire. “What does that mean?” she snapped.
Grys’ spirits fell for just a split second. He’d angered her. He thought back to what he’d said, trying to understand how he’d managed to piss her off. It was hard to concentrate while touching her skin.
He dropped his finger from her chin. As soon as she’d been freed, she looked back to the bed. “Why do you hate us so badly?”
He was becoming more confused by the second. He expected her hand on his stomach under his own hand wasn’t helping the situation. She looked up at him. “Earthlings. Why do you hate us?”
A smile lifted his lips. He shook his head. “Who said we hated Earthlings?”
Carissa didn’t respond. She just stared at him. Grys couldn’t help it. She was his weakness. His resolve crumbled piece by piece every time her eye lashes brushed her slightly freckled cheek. “I don’t hate Earthlings. I never have. Except maybe that rodent that was interrogating you. I’m actually beginning to like them—well, one of them. More than I ever thought possible.” He didn’t give her time to respond. He put his finger back under her chin lifting her to meet him as he leaned down. “I’m learning that Earthlings are soft and warm. Earthlings smell like flowers and they taste…” He finished by pressing his lips firmly against hers.
Their kiss was sweet at first. Gentle, but loaded with all the words that Grys couldn’t finish saying. Carissa was melting against him. He moved his hand to the small of her back, using the leverage to bring her body against his. Carissa softened, and her lips parted against his. Grys, wanting to know all of her, invaded her mouth with his tongue. Their kiss deepened and heated as they explored each other’s mouths. Carissa gained some gumption and moved the hand he hadn’t captured against his stomach to claw at his shoulder in a desperate attempt to bring them closer together.
Pain registered through the haze their coming together had caused. Grys inhaled sharply and Carissa stiffened in his arms. She pulled away, and he instantly felt naked. He needed her against him. She fit there perfectly.
“What did I do?” he asked in a panic. “Did I hurt you? Go too fast?”
Carissa pushed against him harder. “No! I hurt you. Please Grys, let me go. I need to help you.”
Grys was very confused but moved his hand from her back. She gently brought her hand to his shoulder. “If it didn’t happen on Earth, when did it happen?”
It hit him then. Of course. He’d reacted when she touched his shoulder. She must have thought—well, he’d show her differently. He reached for her and brought her body back against his own. “No idea. Don’t worry about it. It doesn’t hurt or anything.” He brought his mouth back to hers.
She pushed gently against his chest and moved her head back. “Sure. Right. That’s why you couldn’t breathe when I touched it.” She moved her hands back to the hem on his shirt. “You’re right, it doesn’t hurt you.” She shook her head and rolled her eyes sarcastically. A smile lit her face. “So off with this, big boy.” She laughed as she tugged on his shirt.
He looked into her eyes. She was being playful. He could do that too. “I’ll show you mine if you show me yours.”
Carissa stilled. Grys held his breath. He had no idea how she’d respond. He didn’t think he’d taken things too far, but who could tell. Who could ever tell what females were thinking?
He stared at her. His shirt was halfway up his middle and blood oozed from his shoulder. Then suddenly, she snapped out of it. She looked up at him, and their playful nature returned when she nudged him with her shoulder. “The damsel in distress never immediately hooks up with the hero. A girl’s gotta make him work at it a little.”
They both laughed as she finished pulling his shirt over his head and then gently eased it off his shoulder. The amount of blood saturating it made it easy to remove. Carissa pushed his healthy shoulder to spin him around. “Into the shower with you. Wash that out, and when you’ve finished, I’ll examine it.”
Grys looked behind him. “You could join me. Examine it, and clean it for me.”
She winked and turned toward the door that would take her to the hallway. “As if I’d make it that easy for you.”
Grys scrunched his eyebrows down and tried to glare at her. He wasn’t very successful. She immediately started laughing, which made him laugh. It was contagious. It was the most amazing sound he’d ever heard.
“Get in there before you cover everything in your weird purple blood,” she told him, before turning thoughtfully into the hallway. After a short pause in the doorway, she turned back to him. “If you didn’t get that on Earth, what did happen?”
He couldn’t imagine what she was thinking, and he knew somehow that he shouldn’t voice it. He watched her quietly for a second before he decided. He sucked in a breath and replayed what he’d watched while the screw dug a hole in his shoulder.
Her soft but shallow breaths told him that his vision was
getting through to her loud and clear. He shifted in the small bits of clothing he still had on. Everything suddenly felt tight. He needed to get away from her if he was going to keep his promise. He exhaled very slowly and turned into the bathroom before saying. “You distracted me.”
Chapter Six
Carissa almost tripped over her own feet in her attempt to escape. She couldn’t believe it. She’d known, but there was still that part of her that didn’t believe. She couldn’t ignore it now. He’d seen everything. He knew how dirty she was. He’d hate her now. He would never want her, knowing that she was capable of such thoughts.
Carissa stopped and leaned against the wall in the hallway. She’d been on her way to look for first aid supplies but was having trouble breathing now. She slid down the wall until she was able to sit on the floor. She buried her head in her hands and pressed her thumbs against her closed eyelids. She watched the colorful sparks dance against the darkness.
She couldn’t help but wonder about the others. She knew that Maria was safe, but there was Lela and now Roxanne. Carissa didn’t know Roxanne, but she hoped that the girl wasn’t in the same spot she herself had been in just a few short hours ago. She rubbed her eyes harder, turning the sparks of color into a blinding white light. Flynn’s voice invaded her thoughts. She could smell him. It made her stomach heave. “You’ll be the best wife. I know you enjoy being on your back.” He’d run his finger down her thinly covered arm. “I don’t mind a woman with experience. Makes my job that much easier.”
Carissa pushed hard on the backs of her eyelids until the bright white light burned and Flynn disappeared. She let her hands fall and she slumped against the wall. Her chest was heaving from the strain of trying to keep herself from bursting into tears. She swallowed hard and gave herself a pep talk. She could do this. She could be here and only think of Grys. She could forget about Earth and all bad things that had happened there. She took another deep breath. The only thing was that in trying to forget all the bad, she also would forget some of the good. Her life hadn’t been horrible. Sure, the powers that be were controlling, and a theocratic government had its issues…but overall, she’d been healthy and happy.
Grys’ face appeared in front of her own, and a pit sank into her stomach. No. She hadn’t been happy. This made her happy. He did. Knowing that he was here with her. She just needed to know that he wouldn’t always hate her for being an Earthling. She needed to know he wanted her, all of her, before she could commit to being here.
Carissa tried to push herself off the floor, but her head hit something solid that wasn’t hard. She looked up and a small gasp escaped her lips.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you. I thought you’d seen me. You looked right at me.” Grys looked down at her, a gentle smile on his face.
Carissa regained her breath and nodded. “I thought I’d imagined you. Sometimes it still doesn’t feel real.”
Grys couldn’t respond. The idea that she’d been harmed in a way that made her reality seem like a nightmare made him want to murder people. He knew it would be wrong though. She was what was important, and he had her now. He’d do what needed to be done to heal her and bring her back to herself completely. He reached down and scooped her up. That was when Carissa realized he wasn’t wearing a shirt.
She looked up at his chiseled jaw line. She wanted to run the tip of her tongue along it. She wanted to feel the scruff from his beard against her softer skin. Her body felt hot but her skin felt cold. “Where are your clothes?”
“…Hmmmm?”
She stiffened, trying to block the thoughts that had begun to invade her brain. His hands on her arms and then her back, she could feel his hands warming to the temperature of her skin. “I said, where are your clothes?”
He let out a little chuckle. “No. Idea. I saw—no, I felt your distress, and I jumped out of the water, into a towel, and down the hall to find you.” He stopped and stared down at her. “He will never touch you again.”
Carissa shuddered at the coldness in his eyes, their stare cooling her body but lighting up her insides. The fire made her brazen, and she reached up and brought Grys' head to her own, kissing him like she’d never kissed him before. She didn’t want to talk about Flynn; she figured if she kissed Grys for long enough, the figure named Flynn would become a distant memory, because that part wasn’t real. She didn’t want it to be. This was real. The scratchy whiskers against her cheek, the large hands holding her to his body—they were real. The warmth of his lips and the taste of his tongue; they were real, and they were all she needed to think about.
Carissa moaned against his mouth. He was struggling to control himself. He could feel his body responding to her touch. He didn’t want to frighten her. He knew the towel he’d wrapped around his waist wasn’t enough to cover the hardness growing between his thighs. He shifted her in his arms so that she wouldn’t feel him against her back.
After a long few minutes, Grys made himself pull away. It didn’t make sense that kissing her just made him want to kiss her more, but that was how it was, her lips were puffy and her cheeks were pink. “You’re amazing. I can’t wait to take you home.”
***
Carissa enjoyed the next few days on the ship. They had stopped at the Space Station and gathered some supplies, but only briefly. Grys and Ryn both wanted to get back to Htfld. They thought it was the only safe place. The stunt that Flynn had pulled, magically appearing on the ship before returning with Carissa to Earth, had them a bit on edge. Grys wouldn’t let her out of his sight. It was very sweet. He took protecting her seriously and was working hard to build her trust.
It was the night before they’d land on Htfld and they were in his room; her lying in bed and him lying on the floor beside the bed. She started to worry about what would come next.
“Tell me about your family.”
Grys was groggy, almost asleep. “Huh…?”
Talking to him like this, in the dark when she couldn’t see or touch him, was strange—but there was something undeniably intimate about it. She felt closer to him in the dark. “Your family, tell me about them. I’ve met Tylr…though I’m still not sure about him. I’ve obviously met Ryn. But I know you have parents and other brothers. Tell me about them.”
Grys was awake now and trying to prop himself up on his pillow. “Well my parents are great. They’re a bit much on occasion and Mother is probably going to be absolutely vile when she finds out about you. But I’ll deal.” He shrugged. “My brothers are my brothers. They’re hard to explain. You’ll just have to meet them.”
Carissa was rigid. His mother would hate her. She’d worried about it, but figured since Tylr had taken an Earthling wife it would be okay. Carissa could only hope that his mother would be used to some of Earth’s customs and not be as upset. She closed her eyes and forced herself to calm. “Where will I live?”
Grys wasn’t sure what to say. He wanted her to live with him, of course—but he was trying to let her be in control. He wanted her to want him, to want to be with him. He had plans for the morning but maybe now was better. “Well—that’s really up to you.”
“It is? I didn’t think I’d have many choices.” Carissa whispered the words as her self-consciousness overwhelmed her. She’d been hoping he’d tell her he wanted her with him. That she didn’t have to worry about a place to live, because of course, she’d be living with him. Why in the name of the Milky Way would she ever have thought differently?
She could hear Grys shifting around. The darkness shifted with him, causing a gulf between them rather than blanketing them the way it had the last few nights. She should have known. He hadn’t tried to sleep in bed with her. He hadn’t touched her, and had only stolen a few short kisses. He had been basically her bodyguard and nothing more since the night he scooped her from the hallway in nothing but a towel.
Carissa gasped as a weight settled on the bed and shifted her closer to the edge. His voice cut through the black of the room. “Carissa, I�
�m sorry. I can’t do this anymore. I’ve tried for the last few days, but it just doesn’t feel right.”
The lump had formed back in her throat. She couldn’t breathe. He hated her too. He’d realized that he couldn’t get past her origin, and he wouldn’t have her. She choked back a sob as tears leaked from the corner of her eyes. She felt his work-calloused hand feeling around before coming to rest on her own.
“Carissa, will you marry me?”
Chapter Seven
His words barely registered. She knew they’d been important. “What?”
Grys pulled on her hands, bringing her to him. He snapped his fingers and a soft light turned on in front of the closet. It wasn’t bright in the room, but she could at least make out his outline. As her eyes adjusted she was able to make out his nose, his eyes, and his mouth. She would never get to feel his lips against hers again. She almost let her sob out.
Grys held her close with one arm and used the other to make her look at him. She was so beautiful it stunned him. He loved staring at her. “I said, Carissa, will you marry me.”
She sucked in a breath. Hard. Then another. And another. Grys felt wetness touch the hand that was cradling her cheek. “Baby, what’s wrong? You don’t have to. That’s what I’ve been trying to show you. Please. Please don’t cry.” He was frantic. He let her go. Moved his hand gently from her face to cover his own.
Carissa was crying in earnest now. She couldn’t breathe. She was desperate for air. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She tried to focus on the pressure of his hand on the small of her back, but then it was gone. She was getting dizzy. The lack of air was seriously screwing with her eye sight. Grys was morphing, melting kind of and then it was black.
Carissa opened her eyes to bright light and Grys shaking her. “Carissa, please wake up. Please wake up.” The panic in his voice shocked her.
