by Marie Dry
He pulled her flush against his warm hard body before she could enter. “You will now kiss me.”
CHAPTER 6
Heavy silence coated them, like a thick blanket of snow covering the Earth in winter muted sound.
He stood so still that she half expected him to grow into the deck. When she’d offered to kiss him, did she shock him into rebooting his CPU or something? If that was it, he shouldn’t be shocked. He’s the one who talked about sex at every opportunity.
Very carefully, making sure that he didn’t mistake it for an aggressive action, she placed her left hand on his massive chest, instinctively trying to feel his heartbeat. “Have you ever kissed a woman, Balthazar?”
His mouth pulled down in a universal sign of disgust. His eyebrows drew together, his eyes became fixed. “I would never betray my soul.”
Betray his soul? For one confused moment, she had no idea what he meant. Then it clicked. He thought she was his soul--or the other half of his soul, at least. She held up her hands. “Okay, this might not be as good as you think it’s going to be. I’m tired, and I want to sleep.”
Beneath her feet, the floor of the ship vibrated with a soft restless hum, as if it reacted to her words.
Aurora stared up at the alien in front of her. She’d bargained with him--okay, for information and not for a new room--but he was giving her something in exchange for the kiss. And he was clearly waiting for his reward. Now she looked up into those fierce eyes, smelled his wild, other-worldly scent--did he bath with products made from spices and wild flowers grown on his home planet?--and tried to act as if kissing a six-foot-seven-inch alien...half machine, half something else...was an everyday activity.
He was flush against her before she could blink. “Kiss me now.”
Aurora’s breathing became rapid, and she was surprised when he didn’t order her to regulate her breathing again. She lifted her cold and clammy hands to his shoulders and rose up on her toes. Hesitantly, half afraid he’d snap those sharp teeth at her, she reached up and traced the outline of his lips. They were surprising, soft and more pliable than they looked. Aurora bit her own curling lip when his puckered slightly, as if he wanted to get closer to her fingers. She continued to trace her forefinger over the outline of his mouth, following the tiny, almost invisible lines that covered them.
“Kiss now.” His voice deepened.
“You need to bend down, I can’t reach,” she said.
He leaned down and lifted her. She kept her lips closed and pressed them against his. He was warm, not cold and slimy at all.
She’d expected to feel fear, and she did. Expected to brace herself, to close her eyes and think of Earth, and she did. She didn’t expect to feel excitement or to enjoy the feeling of his surprisingly soft lips against hers. But she did.
He stood like a statue, holding her off her feet with his hands at her waist, as if he feared she’d stop if he moved. Unlike a statue, she sensed the leashed strength he held in check.
She struggled, and he put her down. She went to touch her hair and then clenched her fist. If she kept doing that, he was going to figure out that her hairpin had a weapon in it.
He motioned toward the open door, his shoulders tense, his eyes flickering, and after a quick glance into the cabin, he blinked several times. Was this fierce male who had the courage to threaten Earth uneasy about entering a cabin on his own ship?
“Is this your cabin?”
He crossed his arms over his chest, his expression closed to her. “No.”
Aurora took a hesitant step forward. She had this strange sense that if she stepped through these doors, she’d be crossing more than one threshold. She looked around, curious about the way his kind lived. Rich fabrics covered ornate throne like chairs. The upholstery shone with textures that begged to be touched. Gold gleamed everywhere. The arms and legs of the chairs looked like wood painted with the precious metal.
She held a hand in front of her eyes. “A person could be blinded by all this gold.”
Her joke fell flat. He didn’t react. She shrugged and turned in a circle. On the design in the floor and on each ornate ornament scattered around the room, there was more gold. Statues of men and women, who looked like Balthazar, were in seductive poses she couldn’t imagine him affecting. There were objects that reminded her of ashtrays and delicate flowers made from gold and...what looked like...platinum. The detail was so meticulous that she wanted to reach out and touch it. The room had a rich beauty, and yet the pervasive feeling she had was of a people who tried to cover sorrow with opulence. “Obviously, your planet has an abundance of gold?”
“The planet of the Tunrians had gold,” he said pointedly. “Now they mine neighboring planets. Tunria’s reserve of gold was exhausted centuries ago.”
The day her parents had handed them over to the monsters, she and Ter had never suspected the horrors that awaited them. They’d gotten into the beat up old car and, when her mother smiled at her, Aurora assured herself it was one of the good days. When her father kept driving past MacDonald’s and Machealthy, she and Ter had looked at each other. Just looked, each of them knowing something awful was waiting for them. When they stopped at a traffic light, she’d thought about grabbing Ter and running. In hindsight, she wished she’d done it.
She had that same sensation of impending doom now. Humans had tried to establish a mining colony on Mars. It didn’t work. The cost of getting to the minerals didn’t make it feasible. While the debate about stopping the mining was going on, Earth lost contact with the colony. The ships built to go to Mars and Jupiter exploded while still in orbit. And Balthazar talked casually of a race of people who mined other planets the way, on Earth, they mined in other countries. Humans had no chance against these aliens.
She turned and looked at the room where she was going to live for a long time if she couldn’t find a way to escape this ship. With the first overwhelming impression of gold and opulence out of the way, she could see individual pieces. A big bed framed by velvety drapes stood flush against the wall opposite her. Chairs were arranged in a seating area. To the left was an alcove with a vanity table, of all things.
“Was this going to be the room of a female commander?”
“No, why would you think this?”
She gestured around the cabin. “It just seems so decadent. Surely this is a warship?”
“Yes, it is a war ship.” His lips pulled back from his teeth. “The Tunrians have a very decadent lifestyle, built on the backs of their slaves.”
He’d said they slept in the cargo hold. Did the Tunrians consider soldiers--these cyborgs--inferior? Were the cyborgs so used to being treated like slaves not entitled to their own rooms, that they didn’t even question it? “Do all the cyborgs sleep in the cargo hold?”
“No.”
She didn’t know how, but she knew that he’d lied to her.
He motioned to the wall next to the vanity. “Your luggage is in the closet.”
It slid open to reveal her suitcases. She had this unpleasant picture in her mind of this creepy ship swallowing it and vomiting it into this space. “How did it get here?”
“The ship transferred it here.”
Just like that? she thought. “How aware is this ship?”
He stared at her. “It’s a machine.” That stare dared her to call him a machine as well. She wasn’t going there, especially since someone had a huge chip on his shoulder.
He motioned to the bed. “You are weary. I will monitor your vital functions and ensure you sleep exactly eight hours.”
Aurora bit her kiss-swollen lip. He wanted to watch her while she slept? See her vulnerable and without the props she hid behind every day? No matter what she wore to sleep in, without her dress and hairdo as armor, she’d feel naked. She moved to put the elaborate gold-covered chair between them and plumped out her skirts, still tasting him on her lips. She wanted to cover them with lip gloss, anything to rub off the remembered feel and taste of that unexpected kiss
. “What do you mean you’ll monitor me?”
“I am aware of your vital signs at all times. No matter where I am on this ship,” he said. The pointed way he said that meant something, but she was too tired to care.
“All right, monitor away.” She turned in a circle, exhausted. “All right, creepy ship, where’s the bathroom?”
“Creepy ship?”
“Please, just let me have a quick wash and allow me to sleep.”
Tattoos lit up and moved in a section of the wall. The wall slid open beyond the huge closet to reveal a sunken bath. Too tired to appreciate the sheer opulence, Aurora used the facilities, brushed her teeth, washed her face, and went to her luggage. Very aware that he stood where she’d left him in the bedroom, she pulled out suitcases until she found her night dress. It was while she put the cases back in the closet that she saw the smaller suitcase--Ter’s suitcase. She touched it with a trembling hand.
“What is that?” he demanded.
She’d gone on the assumption that Ter would grow up to be as tall as Aurora. She hoped her sister had enough to eat, that she was healthy. Aurora had bought something for every season, every occasion. With determined motions, she put the bag back into the closet. “It’s just a bag I haven’t used yet.”
She would find Ter, and no president or horny cyborg would stop her.
She trudged over to the bed. From the day she’d left Ter behind, she’d never slept in a bed. How could she when she didn’t know if Ter had a bed to sleep in? Aurora clutched her stomach. Even worse, she didn’t know in how many beds her sister was forced to sleep. After a wary look at the floor, she decided to sleep on the bed. Having the ship massage her while she slept defeated the purpose of sleeping on the floor.
He marched to the big door. He’ll have a hard time catching an enemy unaware with the way he stomped around.
“I will leave you and monitor your vital functions.”
“Fine.”
He could monitor whatever he wanted if he just allowed her to go to sleep.
He left, and she stood alone in the middle of an opulent bedroom on an alien spaceship and wanted to cry. Even when her parents had given her and Ter to the monsters, she didn’t have this feeling of isolation from everything familiar.
She almost cried when she realized she still had to undo her hair and brush it before she could go to bed. It was so long and thick, it took forever to comb and braid loosely for sleep. She’d learned from experience that it only doubled the time she had to spend on it the next day if she didn’t brush and braid it the night before. When she finished her hair, she almost fell into the bed that was so soft and comfortable she thought she’d fall asleep instantly.
As if fate wanted to laugh in her face, the moment her head hit the triangular cushion she was wide awake. Right now, she’d give anything to be back in her spacious apartment at the foundation. Going through her nightly routine of an hour-long, grueling workout with her trainer, then a yoga session and meditation, a quick bath--she never allowed herself to enjoy a leisurely bath--she’d try to eat a sparse meal in blessed peace, soft music playing. Then she’d choose a book, go to bed, and read until she fell asleep.
No, that wasn’t true. Each night she lay awake for hours wondering where Ter was.
Now, her mind wouldn’t shut down. What would happen tomorrow? She had to get him to let her move around the ship, and his fascination with made a person a person might be her ticket in. Did the president worry about her at all? Did he feel guilty for handing her over? The contemptuous sound she made sounded overly loud in the dark room. He probably slept the sleep of the righteous, safe in the knowledge that sacrificing her would save Earth.
And then there was the kiss. Her eyes fluttered closed. Who knew a fierce cyborg could kiss like that?
Her bed shook, and she sat up, ready to run to the doorway, though they’d never had earthquakes at the foundation, even though earthquakes around the world had increased in frequency. Aurora blinked and looked up, into Balthazar’s face. It wasn’t dark anymore. She looked around, half expecting sunlight to come through a port window, but the light was artificial.
He continued shaking her with his grip on her shoulders. “You will get up now, human.”
Aurora widened her eyes, and they got stuck like that. He loomed over her--naked. She’d thought him big before, but looming over her like this, he was enormous. She tried to scoot out from under him. Like a raptor eyeing prey, he tracked her movements. He caged her head with his muscled biceps.
“You heart rate sped up.”
“You think?”
“I monitor.”
She knew he was naked because she could see one masculine flank bared by the sheets and there were no clothes to hamper her view. Naked, he was even bigger, his shoulders impossibly wide. What else did he do besides getting naked and into bed with her while she was sleeping?
“What are you doing? Why are you in bed with me? And why are you naked?” Her voice rose to a shrill screech.
“I am waking you because you have slept for eight hours. This bed is for both of us. I am naked because we do not sleep in our clothes.”
“Ever heard of pajamas?”
“No.”
She couldn’t believe she was thinking this, but it would be a shame to cover up a body like his. Yes, it was alien looking with a weird tattoo moving around on it. He was also long and lean with well-developed muscles in perfect proportion.
She looked at her watch. “What time is it? My watch stopped working.” She shrugged her shoulders. “And get off me.”
Noticing the direction of his gaze, she pulled the blankets over her breasts, wishing her nightdress wasn’t made of thin cotton.
His eyes followed the movement. “It is five in the morning human time,” he said as if she’d slept in till noon.
She placed a pleading hand on his naked chest. It was rather disconcerting being in bed with a ripped, naked alien. He was menacing, but not as ugly as he could’ve turned out to be. She stared up at his savagely beautiful face, resisted the urge to see what he looked like lower down. Muscles rippled in his shoulders and arms as he caged her with his elbows planted beside her head. He smelled exotic and wild. Her nerve ends tingled and came alive. She was vulnerable, the only human on this ship. They were in a bed--her in a sheer night dress and him naked.
She carefully, very slowly, moved her hand on his chest. His bare skin was warm against her skin. His tattoo shadowed her, muscles rippling under her hands as she moved them up his chest. “Why is your tattoo following my hand?”
He leaned back from her, seeming perturbed somehow. “I will take you to breakfast in one Earth hour,” he said. “There will be a table and chairs.”
He got up and moved to the bathroom, giving her a view of a backside she didn’t want to admit was amazing. He was muscled even there. And she still didn’t know if he was built like a human male on the front side.
Careful, Aurora, she warned herself. Those eyes might not have a soul behind them, but they are very shrewd and intelligent. “Will the other cyborgs join us?” she asked.
“No,” he said without turning.
“Well, so much for chivalry. Obviously, I have to wait my turn.”
She got out the clothes she wanted to wear. The long, medieval-style dresses had been worn by grand masters of the foundation for centuries. They might look impressive, but they were heavy and cumbersome. Aurora hated the dresses and the formal hairstyles, but it was a daily reminder that she was free and Ter still in the hands of the monsters. Aurora would’ve loved to put on jeans, but the dresses and elaborate hairdo would work better to set her apart, make her special in Balthazar’s mind--and remind her that she couldn’t forget about Ter just because she was stuck on this ship.
He emerged exactly fifteen minutes later. His hair was tied in a ponytail, and he wore a gray jacket with black pants. No insignia that might indicate his rank adorned the uniform. She stared down at his boots. The material didn�
�t look synthetic, but if it was a kind of leather, they had some odd animals on their planet.
“You have fifteen Earth minutes to present yourself.”
“If you want me to be halfway presentable, I need more time than that.”
“Fifteen Earth minutes,” he said again.
Aurora grabbed her clothes and ran to the bathroom. She took the fastest shower on record and quickly braided her hair. She’d have liked to do something more elaborate for her first day on this ship, but until she got him to understand that looking good took a lot of preparation time, this would have to do.
She found him facing the wall next to the doors. What was it with the cyborgs and staring at walls?
“Are we going to the mess hall?”
He turned away from the wall and stopped. She thought that what she saw in his eyes was pure admiration. He blatantly looked her up and down. “No, come with me,” he said and turned around.
She hurried to follow him before the door closed. Obviously, he didn’t feel the need to let her go first. Was this normal behavior on his planet?
“How much of you is organic and how much machine?”
Which part ruled his thoughts and emotions? He obviously had emotions, though anger and, maybe, curiosity, seemed to be it.
He glanced down at her--a piercing, perceptive glance. “You want to find a weakness to exploit.”
“No...uh...where did you say we were going?”
“I did not say.” He took her arm. “I will show you Earth, and you will not miss it anymore.”
“Yes, I can feel myself wasting away from missing Earth these last few hours,” she said with awful sarcasm.
“You will see your Earth and stop wasting away,” he said, her sarcasm obviously wasted on him. “I made a vow to your president that I will show you Earth each day.”
A door opened, and they stepped into a space that reminded her of an elevator. It moved so smoothly, if it wasn’t for the flashing symbols, she wouldn’t have known they were moving.
