At least, in that part, we are the same, human. Our hearts beat strong. I suddenly wanted to save her. I wanted to hear her voice again, yelling at me. I was not sure what drove me straight into that madness, but seeing her sleeping like that, I thought it would be a waste to let her die in my arms.
The smell of water was getting stronger, and my unusual guide finally flew away, leaving me alone in the dark. For a moment, I panicked.
Me? The great Prime Officer? Afraid? I was in the middle of nowhere, with no light, no knowledge of my surroundings or anything to guide me to the end of this narrow alleyway. So, yes, panic was the first thing that came to my mind.
But as soon as I took another step forward, a weak light appeared at the end of my way. At first, it was only one tiny light, something I wouldn’t have notice if I wasn’t in such a despair, but then, this one light became two, the two became four, and before I could count to ten, the whole glade erupted in light.
A greenish pond was right in the middle of a destroyed building, full of vines, moss and every kind of dark-colored flower. This place was an ecosystem by itself, with flowers getting their aggressive colors from the flying animals, and the animals probably swimming and feeding and living off them. In all honesty, it was something wonderful.
I tried to take in everything, but something troubled me; Eladia suddenly seemed heavier. “Fuck. She’s almost dead. I have to do something.”
The first thing that came to my mind was to give her a sip of that greenish water. I didn’t know why, maybe it was my own body craving for the wet element, or something totally illogical, but that was what I chose to do.
I placed her on a bed of fallen leaves and cupped my hands inside the pond. The water was cold but refreshing. I had to stop myself from taking a sip when I remembered that Eladia needed it more than I did.
From what I managed to gather, only half of it ended up in her mouth. This scene brought up a memory, or rather what it was the shadow of a thought.
...I’m not good at taking care of people. I’m great at breaking them…
I looked at my hands, and I knew I was right. I had just killed a whole pack of creatures, and almost hit Eladia. My fists were my words, and I didn’t know when to stop. I checked her temperature, but nothing had changed. I ran back and forth to the pond a couple times more, but there was nothing more I could do.
In the end, I just stood above her motionless body and felt a hollow dread. She was dead.
I didn’t know why I cared. Back in the crossroad, almost an hour ago, I wanted to kill her, to at least abandon her. Now...I wanted to see her angry eyes again.
One of the birds flew next to her. I moved my hand to shoo it, but as it pecked her wet hand, she opened her eyes and looked around her like nothing had happened.
Without realizing it, I had stopped breathing. The air surged in my body, and I wanted to slap my face.
You got soft, Jasih. She’s just a human.
Chapter Nine
Jay
My head span and I was really close to throwing up my breakfast, which I now remembered it was the only thing I had eaten all day. I tried to focus on the small lights flying above me. For a moment, I took a wild guess. Are those stars?
I heard the splashing of water next to me, and random things started to come up. The endless waves of insectoids, the sudden sting in my neck…my hand rushed to the part which now felt sore and smooth. There was no evidence that it had ever happened, except the fact that a small patch of skin around that part of my neck, still had a cold feeling around it.
I’m sure I was dead, but someone must have saved me. But who? Who was the one that carried me away and protected me? Zan was too feeble to be able to do that, and Silver lacked the initiative.
That left only one person.
“You’re awake,” Jay uttered in a matter-of-fact tone.
It was like he had fought the venom with his own two hands and made sure to win, that was his at that moment. But there was also something else there. Maybe it was relief?
Nah, I’m just fooling myself.
His clothes were torn apart. The fabric on the front part of his black shirt, was full of holes and through it, I could see open wounds with dried blood. He was seriously hurt, more than he would ever dare to admit. Even so, here he was, looking at me with the same cold glare. His eyes showed nothing.
“Yes, it seems I am. Did you...did you save me?” My voice still shattered. Seriously, what is wrong with me?
“Yes.” The word left his mouth easily, with a tint of plain arrogance. He seemed to imply that there was no one else who would be able to do it.
“Thank you. I owe you my life.”
“Yes,” he replied instantly. My brows shot up in surprise.
Is he gonna ask me to serve him for the rest of my life to pay up the debt? Typical man’s attitude. Even among generations and generations of different species throughout space, that part remains the same. They’re all pigs.
I tried to push my body up, to lie against the weak trunk of a cut tree. I started to discern the beautiful, fire-birds. Yes, that word suited them well. A reference from an old book came to my mind. It was a short abstract one about a type of insect, fireflies. It could perfectly explain those creatures as well.
As my eyes swiped the glade, they finally caught Jay moving towards the water in the middle. The greenish pond gave off an intoxicating aroma, something of roses and squashed berries. I wanted to get a sip. But I was not the only one who seemed to have the same idea.
Jay’s long and brawny hands stretched upwards, pulling his shirt on their way up. Suddenly, below the destroyed fabric and under the quizzical demeanor, another part of Jay appeared, that of his physical perfectness.
“Oh, my…” I said through my teeth. Every muscle of his chest, his bulging pectorals, his throbbing abs, anything that I could only imagine how they looked up until now, were far better in reality.
He turned and looked at me.
Shit, he must have heard me.
I felt my ears twitch and flush, and I was trying to hide my face behind a curtain of hair. Only just now did I notice that my hair was loose.
“What’s wrong human? Are you not feeling well?” If his voice was a little colder, then I was sure I would have frozen to death.
How can a man this hot be so senseless?
“I’m fine. Just a bit tired. That’s all.” All the sentences came out as one, and I wanted to apologize, but I was too embarrassed already. His black hair was messily cute, and the rest of his body was chiseled to greatness. Yes, Jay was the picture every man should strive to become.
And then, he bent down and removed his pants as well.
I was not a prude person, no, please. I was the exact opposite of that. I had lied topless inside the observatory of Sol, and I was usually in my underwear while in my apartment. Yes, you could call me bold. But, even though my experiences with men could be counted using both hands, or maybe one and a couple fingers from the other one to be exact, I had never seen a man like him almost naked in front of me.
His underwear, a tight boxer, only managed to hide the very essential parts. Sure, what else could have been hidden behind that thin layer of fabric? Well, I was not sure. I was struggling to keep my eyes away, but I ended up gawping at him without even a pebble of disdain. I had never felt like that before, certainly not for a man. But, from the first time I saw him, I couldn’t stop thinking what this man could have been in his past.
A Prime Officer, and of course an Originator, but his body was the body of a fighter. Nowadays, generals and admirals never even participated in real battles. They gave their orders from their space stations, far away from danger and the intergalactic battlegrounds. This man...this man was the battle personified.
When he dived into the water, I kinda wished I could follow him. My mind was running through his body like drops of the sweet nectar he was swimming in, which now ran down his body. I was thinking about his hot body, his musc
ular biceps, and the swelling inside his underwear.
Shit. Fuck. What are you thinking Eladia? You must be exhausted, girl.
Before I was even aware of my actions, I was looking around the glade. It was darker than before and undoubtedly quieter. I didn’t know what was going on, but I had a bad feeling about it.
“Jay?” I whispered, but the man was nowhere to be found.
I was searching around the glade, but it was already too late when I found the reason the whole area suddenly turned silent. A feline-like creature with dark mane and strikingly white eyes had appeared out of nowhere. I was looking at it, but I was not yet sure if it had noticed me.
I froze. I couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe, and certainly, couldn’t shout. My mind was blank, as blank as a mind could be, when real danger appeared. This day got longer and longer, and I was finally thinking that being a Chronicler was actually a dangerous job.
The feline creature walked with the grace of a fallen king, now devoid of his glory.
Why am I the only one that gets in so much trouble all the time?
“Human, you’ll get us both killed,” Jay whispered in my ear as he tossed me up onto his arms with ease. This man could snap me like a twig if he wished to.
He was sneaking behind the dangerous beast, tiptoeing his way with me on his hands. Jay carried me behind a fallen wall on the other side of the glade, entering inside a small area that could be described as a cavern. This area was full of water and those firebirds from before. Some of them flashed like broken light bulbs, and others just chirped now and then. It was crowded already, not counting us, touching each other.
Jay stretched his hands around me from the moment we got in, using his body to cover mine. However, him being almost naked, and me, utterly turned on by his appearance, didn’t help all that much. I thought he hugged me to protect me, but then again, I wasn’t sure if that could count as a hug.
He was not touching me, but my body. He didn’t care for me, but for the human that could help him. After all, why should he care for anyone, especially someone as insignificant as me? It wasn’t like he could fall for me as I did now. That wasn’t possible.
“I think it has gone. Let me check.”
He left me alone in the cavern, and I felt naked without his embrace. I shook my head, trying to shake away the feeling of loneliness that suddenly filled my heart.
Eladia, you’re an independent woman, a Chronicler for God’s sake. You can’t act like an infatuated young girl, certainly not with a troubled man like Jay.
I tried telling that to my mind again and again, but the moment he arrived to inform me about the situation, my heart skirted. It actually, honest-to-life, skirted.
“It’s gone. It seems it was just thirsty.”
His voice had the same depth of a soldier reporting to his officer, and I kinda wanted to relieve him of his duties. So I just nodded in agreement. When he left without saying anything more, I stayed behind only for a moment, looking at nothingness.
I looked at that little firebird that chirped again, and I thought that we were kind of the same. Only that I couldn’t fly away from Jay and my thoughts, and I was not flashing beautifully in the dark. I was just a Chronicler, and finding the Nusae relic was my priority.
Chapter Ten
Jay
I felt the temperature rising. My muscles felt inflamed, and I started feeling the effects of a long sleepless night. The human female was as energetic as ever, bouncing from one side of the gorge to the other, trying to examine every last species she could find.
I didn’t understand the hopefulness of it. There could be a hundred, even a thousand of species in this gorge alone, and she wanted to find every last one of them? She would spend her whole life in this patch of land, searching, finally ending up not even close to completing her work. However, seeing her get amazed by even the tiniest bit of progress, somehow warmed my inside.
I wasn’t sure I had felt like that for a long time, but then, even if I had, I wouldn’t remember it. The sunrays fell down from a slight opening on the upper side of the building. The half-broken pane, filtered the light in a gruesome green, and I battled with the urge to squirm my eyes.
Me, the powerful Prime Officer, not standing the sight of light. I sighed.
I walked to her side, and I heard her loud exclamations while examining one of those flying animals she called fire-birds. They were not actually on fire, and I didn’t really understand where that name came from, but it had stuck to me as well.
“So, its skin and wings evolved to help it survive in places even with as little water as here. Also, the light it emits from its belly helps it guide its way through narrow and dark spaces like the destroyed buildings. Amazing!”
Unnecessary.
Why should I care about the firebird? Is it that important to our task? Will this information help us survive? No. It’s just garbage.
I noticed that I grunted and sighed more often when I was around that female. She was turning up to be a hindrance.
“We should go. Where is your spaceship?”
She half-turned her head, trying not to stop her examination of the friendly animal. “It’s not too far from here, but I’m not going anywhere until I find the Nusae relic.”
Again with the Nusae. Why were humans so obsessed with those puny, three-eyed monkeys? It was like they had never seen Nusae around the galaxy. Those colorful creatures were everywhere. They were really hard to miss. “You’re mad. You almost died three times in just one day and yet you want to keep going?”
There they were, those eyes made of fire. “If I leave now, I give up my life’s work. Would you run away from your dream?”
“Esuh don’t dream. We take up missions, and we just accomplish them. Dreams are for lesser species.”
For the first time, she didn’t reply. She just stood on her feet and passed by me with a disregarding expression on her face. I couldn’t understand her at all. But I followed her. I wasn’t sure that she would survive the way back home all alone.
We took the road back to the place we got separated with the rest of the crew. The robot and the half-human had survived, I was certain. The first seemed too stubborn to die, and the other was raised in this place. However, how were we gonna find them now? The female would definitely not leave this Earth without them.
“Silver!”
“Eladia!”
That was fast.
As I ventured out of the narrow pathway, I saw the sparkling Android with the young half-human outside, waiting for us. Frankly, I was surprised. I never expected they’d find us that fast.
“Are you okay? Are all your systems working?”
“Yes, yes, I’m fine. How about you? One second you were here and the next one, our alien friend carries you up that enormous tree. We thought you were dead.”
As if I had to kill her. She could die all by herself. She wouldn’t need my help.
“No, not at all. On the contrary, Jay was the one who saved me. If it weren't for him, I would be dead now.”
That’s true, but still, don’t mess duty with sentiments. Yes, I’m talking to you, Jay...I mean Jasih. Gods, this girl, has wormed her way into my mind!
“That’s...surprising. I morphed to my thruster form and Zan climbed one of the near buildings to get away. We spent the night in one of those ancient apartments. It was horrible until I found something you wouldn’t believe.”
Abruptly, Eladia’s expression changed. Her jovial, energetic faucet changed into an all-serious, all professional face.
“What? What did you find?”
“Earlier this morning, you initiated the scanning protocol. Since you never actually asked me to stop, I took the liberty of violating some sub-principles, and I scanned the area around the place me and Zan stayed.
“The energy reading I found before, has moved. It’s now really close, although it stopped moving suddenly when the sun rose.”
Eladia combed her hand through her loose h
air and grabbed a generous tuft of hair. With her free hand, she reached into her back pocket and took out one of those rubber thingies. That tail that didn’t do her justice at all, returned.
“Let’s go. We have to check it out. It is the only lead we have towards the relic.”
Honestly, this woman is restless.
That was the only way I could describe her. I saw them depart, and I found myself facing a dilemma. I saved her and reunited her with her colleagues. My job here was done. The day had come, and I promised myself that I would spend only one night with them. Nothing more.
Alien Romance Box Set: Romantic Suspense: Alien Destiny: Scifi Alien Romance Adventure Romantic Suspence Trilogy (Complete Series Box Set Books 1-3) Page 74
