by Celeste Raye
Alexis watched Nabvan as he walked over to her and sat down on the bed, leaning in to plant a sweet, chaste kiss on her lips. There was more feeling in that less-than-thirty-second contact than anything she’d experienced with any other male: Milisarian or human. She had to think about all the events that led up to that kiss and wonder if there was a driving force behind the things that happened to people. She was supposed to be with an Arkani man right now, possibly already married to him. She was supposed to be working in one of the Arkani labs, finding out why all of their women were getting ill and dying. Instead, she had been captured by the Milisarians along with all of the other women, and she found herself in love with a Milisarian who was not the man that chose her. But it didn’t matter. Her life would be just a little emptier without Nabvan in it.
“Do you ever think that all of this happened for a reason?” she asked him, trying not to give too much of her emotional state away. She didn’t need him to go asking any questions that she wasn’t ready to answer yet.
“Yes, actually. I absolutely think this happened for a reason,” Nabvan said, surprising Alexis. She hadn’t expected such an answer out of him, especially after the way he had reacted to their first kiss. He had said he was sorry and she had forgiven him for it. But there was a piece of his personality in there that made her think he regretted meeting her. “I don’t know the reason yet; I can’t deny that. But I don’t know if I could ever want this to turn out any other way. Well, unless it meant me choosing you to begin with. That might have been better.”
That made Alexis smile. “It might have, but you wouldn’t have. You were too stubborn.” They laughed at that, only because it was so true.
“You are probably right about that,” he told her, meeting her eyes in a way that made her feel like she might be melting into the bed. “Alexis?” he said quietly, like he was afraid to say what was coming next. Alexis perked up, wondering what he might have to say. She needed to let him know what was on her mind about the women, but she had to know what he had to say first. Maybe he knew. “I love you. I don’t know what that’s going to mean later on, but I know that I do. I love you the way Siefer loves Destiney, but maybe even more than that.”
Alexis felt her heart skip a beat in response to what he said. She was not expecting him to say something so strong. It did complicate things since she loved him too. What would that mean for King Shene? Nabvan might have to make a decision to leave or stay sooner than either of them thought. “I don’t know either, Nabvan,” she told him, afraid to say it back because it was so final. There was nothing they could go back on after that point. But she couldn’t just leave him hanging. “I love you too.”
Nabvan looked shocked, as if he had no idea she felt that way. How could he not know? She was risking so much for him now, and he had been there for her when no one else was. He had done so much. He embraced her, and she him, squeezing him until they couldn’t breathe. “I didn’t think you did,” he admitted as they pulled away.
“Well, I do,” she replied. “But there’s something I need to talk to you about. It has to do with the other women. I don’t want to get you involved, but I am scared for them,” she told him, hoping he would have something reassuring to say; an idea of what she could do to stop it.
“What’s going on, Alexis? Was it something the king said?” Nabvan asked. He didn’t seem to have any idea. That made it even worse. The king must not have been telling anyone his plan.
Alexis nodded. “It was. He was telling me that a lot of the women still are not cooperating with the men who chose them and that it was causing distress for both parties. I can see how that might be true, but I do not agree with how he plans on handling it.” She paused, trying not to choke herself up talking about it. She still felt like she was the one responsible for their fates. She was the one who had chosen them for that flight. “If they have not mated within the next week, they are going to be taken back to Earth when King Shene goes to meet with some of the leaders there. He’s just going to hand them over and leave them there.”
“Okay, so what is the problem with that? They aren’t happy here, and that is their home. Isn’t that better than forcing them to stay here as slaves?” Nabvan asked, clearly not understanding.
“Don’t you remember that I told you these women were leaving Earth for a reason?” she said desperately. Nabvan nodded. “The thing is that some of them were in jail. It means they were prisoners. They had done something wrong and wanted to get away from that life and start over. If they go back to Earth, it means they go back to that lifestyle they needed to leave. They go back to unsupportive and abusive families, friends who keep them doing things that are illegal, and possibly back to jail.” She was frantic at this point, trying to get him to understand the gravity of it all.
“Earth wouldn’t help them out and give them new lives after what happened to them? I mean, they have been captured by an alien race who is trying to force them to breed with them. I would think that would count for something,” Nabvan pointed out, but Alexis shook her head. She wished she could trust her own race to do those things, but she knew better. It wasn’t so easy.
“I wish I could say it would be that simple, Nabvan, but it’s not. Even if they didn’t go back to jail, finding a job and a home would be hard. Many would be forced to go back where they were before because they would end up starving on the streets otherwise. Humans can be kind and helpful, but laws can make them seem very cruel. There wouldn’t be much for them to go back to, and I don’t know what to do for them. I don’t even think they know this is what is happening to them.”
“I don’t know what we could do to change it, Alexis, but many of the men are away with the king. I could see if you could get to some of the women to warn them. At least then they would know, and they might change their minds about cooperating with the men. It is a harsh choice, but at least it would give them one,” Nabvan offered. It was better than nothing.
“You always do so much for me, I hate to ask it, but that would be great if we could just get through to them.” Nabvan nodded, sliding his fingers through her hair reassuringly for a moment before making the call. He would have to find out where they were at and how guarded they were before they even tried, but she knew she owed him for doing this for her. Nabvan was always putting himself in danger for her. She should have realized his feelings from the beginning. Maybe they would have had more time to figure it all out.
As Nabvan took her to the place in the inner city that now held all of the women who had not mated with their men, Alexis was feeling hopeful. They had gotten their own wing on tier four, so she hoped that meant they had more freedom. The king had promised that to her as long as she considered his proposal to mate with him.
Her hope was soon dashed as she realized that the king had only made the situation look better. The women were actually quarantined together so they could not leave the hall where their rooms were for any reason. Food was brought into them along with clean clothes, but they only had each other for company until the men had visitation hours when they continued to try and convince the women to give their bodies up to them.
And as she talked to each woman, she could see that they had begun to view her as one with the king. They did not trust or believe anything she said. They mostly thought she was trying to trick them or that it didn’t matter what she had to say because she was just as evil as the rest of the Milisarians. Only one woman had said she might talk with the man she was supposed to be with and see if they could work something out because there was no way that she was going back to Earth.
Alexis felt sad with defeat as Nabvan led her back to her own room for a meal of her own. There was little hope for these women, then. But now she had a decision to make herself, and as she ate a meal with the man she loved, she knew she would have to tell him whether she liked it or not. She knew now that she did not want to be sent back. She did not want to be sent away from this wonderful planet, the man across from her, or the chan
ce to make a difference with science. She knew what she had to do, and she was going to make the most of the week before telling Nabvan what that meant.
Chapter 16:
***Dravik***
It was two days before the king was supposed to be loading up his ship with the women who would not cooperate with the Milisarian knights and send them back to Earth, and Nabvan had been suspecting something for a few days now. The worry about the other women made some sense to Nabvan since he knew Alexis to be a caring person. It was one of the reasons he loved her so entirely. But he got the feeling there was more to the story.
Despite the fact that they had spent almost no time away from each other, making the most of the week where the king had left her alone, he could feel a sadness around her like a cloud, and he could only imagine what the reason might be. She had not mentioned if the plan to send women back to Earth that were not mating applied to her. That left him with two worrisome thoughts: either she had mated with him so it did not matter, or it did include her and she just didn’t know how to tell him yet. He was going to get to the bottom of it today, no matter how much it hurt.
As they sat down for breakfast that morning, he could feel a shift in her. Alexis had gotten even quieter, and he wondered if she was on the verge of telling him what was on her mind. He thought he might explode waiting, but he wanted to give her a shot to come forward on her own before he grilled her about it. So, he thought he would give her the time through the meal to say something.
“I think it’s going to be a nice day. Maybe we could go for a walk outside for a bit. I know we can’t hold hands or anything, but it still might be romantic in a way,” he offered, starting with a little small talk to break the ice. She just nodded her head and slurped breakfast off of her spoon like a soup, not even meeting his eyes.
“Nabvan, I think there is something we need to talk about,” she said finally, placing her spoon down and looking at him with serious eyes. He wanted to just dive deep into them and never be able to get out, but there were more serious matters to handle at the moment. Reality was a harsh thing to deal with.
“This has to do with the king sending women back to Earth, doesn’t it?” he asked, wanting to skip the explanations. He just wanted answers, but maybe he wasn’t being very fair to the woman he loved.
“Yes, how did you guess?” she asked, dumbfounded that he had guessed such a thing so easily. It was plain on her face. He needed to let her say whatever it was she needed to say in order to get to the revelation.
“I’m sorry, but I have noticed your behavior this whole time has been off. There has been something on your mind, and I remembered that you said nothing about yourself when you mentioned the women going back to Earth if they didn’t mate like they were meant to. It’s been on my mind, and it’s been killing me. But please, say whatever you need to say. I will listen. I love you either way.” Nabvan tried to be reassuring because he knew what she must be thinking. He knew what he would be thinking. He would be worried about losing the love of the person he wanted to be with because of something someone else decided for them. It was the worst situation imaginable. Well, almost the worst. He didn’t want to think about the worst.
“Okay,” she started, trying to maintain eye contact. He watched her head rope many times as she explained. “The king came to me before he left, and I asked him if he could give the women more freedom. I realized it might come with a price, but the price was a high one, especially after he told me many of the women would be sent back to Earth. He told me that he thought I should go too, if I wasn’t interested in mating with him. He was as kind as could be expected about it, just letting me know that our purpose was to mate and that nobody would be happy if we stayed and it didn’t happen. So, I told him I would think about it. I needed more time. I didn’t know what I wanted then, but I do now.”
He hung on every word she was saying. Nabvan was only slightly relieved to hear that she had not mated with King Shene yet. That meant that in order to stay, she would have to do it anyway, and that hurt. It meant that she would probably have to continue to do it in order to stay in the king’s good graces. Was that something he could handle? He wasn’t sure he could, but what about if she went to Earth with the other women? He didn’t know what to do about that either. Leaving the Milisarians wouldn’t be easy, even if it was for a good reason, and he didn’t know at this point how the king would react if he just walked on the ship. King Shene might physically stop him from doing so.
“What do you want, Alexis?” he dared to ask her, waiting on pins and needles.
“I want to be here with you. I want to stay.”
A puff of air left his lungs, as if someone had hit him hard in the back with a staff. He knew what that meant. There was no relief to be had with that statement. “But then that means you will have to mate with the king. He is not going to let you stay here any other way. And now that you have given him even an inch, he won’t accept you telling him you want someone else.” Nabvan knew it to be true. And King Shene would see it as a betrayal on his part that he had allowed the woman the king was supposed to be mating with to love him instead.
“Then, that is what I will have to do,” she said with grim determination. “Is that something you can even live with?” she asked with a worried expression. She looked like she might cry, and he wasn’t about to let that happen, even though it felt like he was dying inside.
“If you must do this,” he said, looking away for a moment, “then can I ask that I have you first?” It was hard for him to say, knowing that she would mate with him and then another. But at least he would be hers first. He would have that to hold in his heart while he knew she was in the king’s arms. Alexis gasped, not holding back her shock at all. “If you do not want me, then I understand,” he told her, ready to let it go if she declined. But he would have to leave her after that.
“I want you more than I want anything else,” she said, and Nabvan’s heart began to race.
Chapter 17:
***Alexis***
Alexis had not expected Nabvan’s exact reaction to the news that she would have to sleep with King Shene in order to remain on Milisaria. She didn’t know why she had never thought about having sex with Nabvan. Well, she had thought about it, but she had never considered making it a reality. Somewhere in her brain, she had gotten bogged down by the idea that she belonged to the king, and she never dared to hope that she could give her body to someone she loved before she had to face the music, so to speak.
Alexis could already feel his hands on her, a distant memory from a different life it seemed. But he was still sitting across from her, clearly processing her answer. They had both been insecure in the other’s feelings; she could see that now. This moment was going to solidify everything though. There was no going back now that they knew they wanted each other, wholly and selfishly.
Her body seemed to be frozen as Nabvan stood up and walked towards her. She did not know what it would be like, having sex with a Milisarian knight. She wondered if it would be any different from having sex with a human man. She had not been with many—only a couple in college like everyone else, but it had been lackluster for her. Perhaps those times were lacking the explosive attraction and deep love she had with Nabvan. Maybe those were the things that made sex great. If so, it meant terrible things for her experience with the king.
Nabvan lifted her out of her chair like she was a rag doll and crushed her body to his with a searing hot kiss for the ages. This was real. It was not another one of her dreams. Dreams could not feel so painful and amazing at the same time.
Alexis let her tongue slip into his mouth as she enjoyed the warmth of his body surrounding her, wanting to stay there forever. If only they had more time, she would make their first time, and possibly their last time, last for days.
He tasted spicy and sweet, like the best kind of salsa, as his tongue dug deep into her mouth, sliding up against the roof and down to her lips where he sucked the bottom one in
deliciously. For someone who had never mated before, he knew just what to do to her. And to think, they hadn’t even made it to the bed yet.
His hands slid down her body and back up in a rhythm that made her relax into him. He was going to be in control of this, in control of her, and she was fine with that. She was fine with whatever he wanted to do with her. She had never felt that way about a man before.
Nabvan grabbed her hands and slid them underneath his shirt and armor, signaling just what he wanted. He wanted her to remove his clothes, strip him down so she could see yet again what was underneath it all. So, Alexis obliged, pulling his shirt over his head like it was nothing but cream. Then, she slid down his black pants, revealing his long, half-hard member.
His body was pale, just as she remembered, and she found that it made her wet to see how his heart flashed and pumped under his see-through skin for her. It was racing and pounding, sending the blood flow straight down to the part of him that would be used to pleasure her for as long as they had left together.
Alexis slid her hands against his smooth skin, admiring how it felt under her fingers. She committed every inch to memory in case she would need it to use on lonely nights after everything was said and done. She didn’t know what would happen to them once the king had his way with her. But she would find a way to keep him somehow. He was everything.
Nabvan slid his hands down her body again before taking to her pink bodysuit, pulling at the strings like it was a race to get it off. He wanted to get to what was underneath so he could enjoy it before it was too late. He looked determined as he continued, releasing her breasts first with a gasp and a rush of cold air before finally being able to slink it down her body to drop on the floor. Alexis stood before him, wearing nothing to cover her body. She didn’t worry about the scars on her back, for it was Nabvan that helped her heal them. There was nothing left to say about them other than some long red scratches that pulled at her skin strangely. The rest of her was still in pristine condition, and she hoped he would love what he saw.
