“I will never forget taking a step and wondering if the floor was going to be underneath my foot when I lowered it. Even though I could feel the floor beneath my feet, in that one moment I questioned whether that piece of the floor was going to be as solid. I didn't believe it would be. And then I stepped and it wasn't there.”
Ivy turned off the water and jumped out of the shower. Drying off as quickly as she could, she threw on her clothes, dragged her bag out from where she had tucked it beneath the bed when she first chose that room and started shoving the rest of her belongings inside. She took her second bag from the hook where it hung on the back of the door and checked the items that were still tucked inside. Tossing both bags over her shoulder, she rolled the blanket on the bed into a tight ball, held it beneath her arm, and stepped quietly out into the hallway.
The rest of the house was silent, but she still held her breath as she crept down the hallway toward the next bedroom. The door was slightly open and she eased it just enough that she was able to step inside. Though the room was darkened, she could tell by the slow, even breathing coming from the area of the bed that Elianna and Ciyrs were sleeping, exhausted from the day that was now grinding to a close. Watching carefully in the faint light from the moon allowed in through the window to make sure that neither of them moved, Ivy lifted Ciyrs' bag off of the floor, added a few items from another on the door, and slipped back out.
Downstairs Ivy unrolled her blanket on the floor and filled it with as much food and as many metal cylinders of water as she could before rolling it back up and heading outside. The street was deserted. Not even the sound of one of the children laughing or a couple whispering as they settled down for the night drifted on the soft wind that was blowing around her. Feeling more confident know that she was out of the house, Ivy began to run. She moved as quickly as she could despite being weighed down by the bags and the now-heavy blanket. Finally she found herself at the front of the meeting hall.
Ivy slowed as she approached the building, looking around for the warriors that were guarding the building. It seemed that because the wall Loralia created intersected the main room, making it impossible for the people to get to the front door that Pyra hadn't insisted on any guard being there. Whispering her thanks into the night air, she rushed up the stairs of the meeting hall and pulled the door open, slipping through as soon as there was enough space for her body to fit. She stopped the door with her back, easing it closed so that it wouldn't make a sound loud enough to alert the guards at the back of the building.
Knowing that this was the only chance she had, Ivy didn't let her nerves slow her. She hurried into the main room, running down the steps so fast that he worried she would lose her balance along the way. As soon as she made it onto the platform she lowered her blanket and two of the bags to the floor, then approached the wall.
"Maxim?" she said, raising her voice as loud as she dared.
There was a long moment of quiet from the other side of the wall and Ivy felt her heart pounding in her chest. She repeated his name, turning her mouth closer to the wall to help her voice get through it, all the while trying to convince herself to believe that that wall wasn't there. Another few seconds passed without a response and the panic began to creep up her spine again as she wondered if something had happened and Pyra had changed his mind about taking some time to think the decision through.
"Ivy?"
She heard the hiss of Maxim's voice come through the wall and nearly sobbed with relief. She pressed her palm against the surface, spreading her fingers as she had with Maxim when he introduced himself, and rested her cheek beside it.
"I'm here," she said. "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine. We've spread out through the other rooms that we can access and some of the men are trying to get some sleep. I couldn't rest. I can't stop thinking about you."
"I'm so sorry. If we hadn't gone outside of the settlement, if I hadn't insisted on going for a walk, this never would have happened."
"Shhhh," Maxim comforted her. "This isn't your fault. You didn't do anything wrong. I wanted to be there with you. I wanted to hold you. I wanted to kiss you."
As Maxim spoke Ivy let her eyes close and her mind wandered to the afternoon that they had spent together. She sought each sensory detail of him, from the warmth of his skin to the touch of his lips and the smell of his hair.
"I wanted that, too," she said.
"I wanted to spend every moment that I had cherishing you. I wanted to run my hands across you and feel your skin against mine. I wanted to make love to you."
Ivy felt her breath catch in her throat. She could feel Maxim near her, hear his voice, but the wall was still solid beneath her hand. No matter how hard she tried to convince herself not to believe that it was there, even to question that it was there, she couldn't. It felt too imposing, too forceful in how it blocked her from him.
"I have wanted you since the first moment that I saw you," she told him.
"You have?"
"Yes."
"I love you, Ivy."
"I love you."
Suddenly Ivy was no longer touching the cold of the wall. Her hand moved through open space and her body tipped forward, coming into contact with the warmth of Maxim's chest. He pushed her backward, stepping out onto the other side of the platform just as the wall behind him solidified again. Ivy threw her arms around him, clutching at his shirt and burying her face into the curve of his neck. She hadn't been able to bring herself to believe that the wall wasn't there, but with those few words, Maxim had made her believe, fully and completely, that she was with him again.
Chapter Eight
"Ivy!" Maxim exclaimed, gathering her close to his body.
Ivy pressed herself to him until she could barely breathe, but she didn't care about breathing. She didn't care about anything except that she had gotten Maxim out of the room.
"I love you," she said again as she pushed back to look at him, wanting to be able to look into his eyes as she said it.
"I love you, too," he said. "How did you do that?"
"It doesn't matter right now," she told him, releasing him so that she could pick up the bags she had dropped and hand them to him. "Right now we have to get out of here. If Pyra catches us, both of us are dead."
"What about the rest of my men?"
"I can't help them," Ivy said. She took a moment, letting a painful, difficult breath seep out of her lungs. "I got you out. Now what you do is your choice. You can stay here and try to fight the guards and get the rest of your men out, or you can come with me. It's up to you."
Maxim didn't hesitate. He reached up and she felt his hand cup her cheek.
"I will always choose you."
He slung one of her bags over his bag and took the blanket from her so that he could tuck it under his arm. Feeling a surge of energy as if she had already slept through the night rather than worked the entire day, Ivy ran back through the main room and to the front door of the building, knowing that Maxim was right behind her. She paused at the door, waiting for any sound that might tell her one of the guards had come around front to check on the surrounding area. When several seconds of silence passed without her hearing anything, she opened the door and both of them eased out, closing the door carefully behind them.
The ground seemed to unravel beneath her feet as she ran down the street toward the back of the settlement. Though they knew that this would put Maxim at further risk of coming into contact with more of the flowers, it was safer to disappear into the darkness away from the houses and buildings and slip out of the gate at the back of the settlement than it would be to try to go through the front. This way they had a better chance of getting out without being detected. As they moved she repeated milestones to herself.
Beyond the houses.
The base of the hill.
The stone wall.
The back gate.
They burst through the gate with such speed Ivy didn’t
even remember unlatching it. She didn't slow down as the ground began to be illuminated more by the moonlight than by the torches lining the main street of the settlement and the faint glow of the solar lights from some of the windows. The bottoms of her feet ached from the weight of the bag and the pressure of her pace, but she pushed herself harder, putting more and more space between her back and the buildings at the bottom of the hill.
"This way," Maxim said behind her and Ivy looked over her shoulder to see which direction he had gone.
She fell back slightly so that she could follow him, trusting his knowledge of the planet as they moved into the darkness.
She didn't know how long they had been running, but when she finally dared a moment to look back, she could no longer see the line of the settlement against the moonlight on the horizon. Ivy turned back to look ahead of her and saw that they were running toward what looked like a rock ledge and the open mouth of a small cave. The thought of stopping somewhere safe forced her to push even harder and soon she felt the softness of the grass beneath her feet change to the grit of dirt leading into the cavern.
They didn't stop as soon as they entered the cave, but continued in, weaving their way down a narrow passage that seemed to lead slightly upward until they stepped out into an open chamber. It wasn't filled with rock formations like the cavern where Loralia once lived. Instead, it seemed to be nearly empty, the floor smooth and the ceiling low enough that a crack allowed the moonlight to wash in. Ivy dropped the bag to the floor and let out a long breath. In front of her Maxim lowered the blanket and the bags he was carrying.
He turned to face her and an instant later he rushed toward her, closing the space between them in two long strides. His arms wrapped around her waist and he lifted her off of her feet, turning her so that he could press her back against the wall closest to them. Ivy welcomed his mouth as it crushed down on hers, drinking him in as she felt his hands leave her waist and go to the hem of his shirt so that he could pull it off over his head. Their mouths parted only long enough for both to shed their shirts, and then tangled again as Ivy kicked out of her shoes and socks and reached forward for the front of Maxim's pants.
Her fingers worked across the buttons, tearing them open so that she could push the pants off of his hips and let them fall to the floor. Maxim returned the gesture, peeling her pants off of her until she was able to kick them off. He kissed her feverishly until her lips felt bruised beneath his. She felt his hands at the fastening on the back of her bra. When the garment fell away, revealing her breasts to him, Maxim groaned low in his throat and bent down to capture one taut peak in his mouth. His tongue roved over the tip of her sensitized nipple, causing Ivy to arch against him. Though the feeling of his mouth was dizzying in its pleasure, his gorgeous body was naked in front of her and she couldn't wait another moment to have him inside her.
As if he could sense her desperation, Maxim swept her off of her feet again, using one arm around her waist to support her, and the other to open her thighs so that they settled onto either side of his hips. He sank into her without hesitation and Ivy cried out as her body stretched to accommodate him. Already hot and wet, she hugged him close, gripping his length as he thrust into her relentlessly. She clutched the hard curves of his shoulders, biting into one of them as the sensation of him inside her spiraled into an incredible peak and she felt herself crash around him in an all-consuming orgasm. Seconds later she felt his cock pulse within her and Maxim pressed as deeply as he could, tucking his head against her chest as he let a primal yell pour out of him.
Ivy crossed her ankles and wrapped her arms around his neck, holding Maxim close and allowing him to pull her carefully away from the wall and turn so that he could lower both of them to the ground and stretch over her without separating their bodies. They kissed languidly and Ivy savored the feeling of his tongue tenderly massaging hers as he gently rocked his hips against her in long, slow strokes. When their bodies had cooled and relaxed, Maxim lowered himself onto her so that she cradled his head against her heartbeat. Ivy ran her fingers through his sweat-damp strands of hair and let the feeling of his belly rising and falling against her with each breath soothe her.
"I didn't know," Maxim said after a few long moments of quiet.
"What didn't you know?" Ivy asked.
"Any of it," Maxim said. "I didn't know that the group that had split off had become those creatures that went to war with the Denynso."
"I know you didn't."
"I'm sorry I didn't tell you more about the humans from the settlement. I know that you wanted to know and I should have told you."
"Why didn't you?"
Maxim touched a kiss to the side of her breast and sat up on one elbow. She looked at his honey colored eyes and felt a surge of love wash through her.
"It wasn't that I was trying to hide anything from you. It is just a horrible thing that happened to my kind and something that we don’t like to talk about very much. Especially those of us who are not supposed to know about it all in the first place."
"What do you mean?" Ivy asked.
"Not everyone in the kingdom learns about the conflict with the Covra, the prison that my kind built so many centuries ago, or how the humans got here. It is information that is kept closely guarded only for specific families. I have never understood why I couldn't know, so I have spent a lot of time eavesdropping on my elders. I was only ever able to pick up small bits of information so I don't know all of the details. I felt guilty that I betrayed my elders and I didn't want you to think badly of me."
Ivy gave a soft smile and followed the curve of Maxim's face with her fingertips.
"I could never think badly of you, my love. There's nothing wrong with wanting to know what is happening around you."
Maxim leaned down and nuzzled the tip of her nose with his.
"What are we going to do?" he asked.
Ivy sighed. What she wanted was to stay curled up with Maxim just like this and not have to face everything that was happening around them, but that wasn't an option. They had made the decision to run, and now they had to make the decision of what they were going to do next.
Chapter Nine
"Where is she?" Pyra roared.
He crashed through the bedroom, knocking over the small table to one side and flipping the bed up so that he could look under it. It had been less than twenty-four hours since he had put Rey and his men into quarantine and somehow one of them, the young one who had been the cause of this disaster in the first place, had managed to escape despite the seemingly impenetrable wall Loralia had created and the guards positioned at every possible exit that they could access.
"I don't know, Pyra," Loralia responded.
Usually her calm, quiet demeanor was comforting to everyone who she encountered, but now it was only infuriating to Pyra. It was as if she were mocking him with her complete lack of concern that not only had Maxim somehow escaped from the quarantine in the meeting hall, but Ivy, the woman who had fought so hard for him, was also gone.
"You did this," Pyra accused, turning to her. "You did something to that wall to make it so that he could escape with her."
"How could that possibly be true?" Loralia asked. "You watched me make that wall yourself, and Bannack was right there with me helping to create the proper reflective angle so that we could specifically reflect the portion of the ceiling that did not have any vents or skylights that could be used as escape hatches. Bannack does not have the control over the reflections that my kind does. He could not have managed to do that himself."
"Then you must have helped her. You went down to the meeting hall last night and you helped her free him."
"Pyra, that is impossible," Bannack said, stepping forward. "She was with me for the entire night. You are accomplishing nothing by accusing my mate of something that she obviously had no part in. We made that wall together and it was just as real as the one that we made to fight the Covra on the street. Besides, don'
t you think that if Loralia and Ivy were going to go down to the meeting hall to somehow change the wall to get Maxim free that she would have just released all of them? There's no secret that she disagrees with your thoughts on them."
"She wouldn't have freed all of them because she knows that she would be starting a war that would put all of us at risk. With you as her mate she is loyal to us and she wouldn't compromise that."
"I am loyal to Bannack, Pyra. Not to this. Not to everything that has been happening in this settlement. I didn't free all of the men, but I didn't free Maxim, either."
"Then where are they?" Pyra demanded.
"I don't know. I've told you many times. I can't read minds. I can read only emotions and feelings. I have no way of knowing where she is."
"Wherever she is," Ciyrs said, walking into the room with an empty bag, "she has enough supplies to survive for quite some time without having to settle anywhere. She took my entire bag plus extra ointments and supplies, and almost all of the food and the water reserves from the kitchen."
"Where are the other human women?" Pyra asked.
"In their houses."
"Bring them to me."
As Ciyrs rushed down the stairs and out of the house, Pyra swiped his hand across the small table beside the bed, knocking everything to the floor with a cry of rage.
"What are you so afraid of, Pyra?"
He turned to Loralia and glared at her, the fury radiating off of him with such intensity that he could feel himself shaking.
Alien Romance Box Set: Uoria Mates II Complete Series (Books 1 - 10): A Sci-fi Alien Warrior Invasion Abduction Romance Page 44
