by Willow Danes
She glanced at the instrument in his hand. “Is it going to hurt?”
He looked regretful and she took that to mean, yeah, it’s gonna hurt.
“Okay.” She gave a nod, her hands clenching into fists like they always did at the dentist’s office. “Go ahead.”
As he raised the instrument to hold it to her neck, a thousand questions that she should have asked before agreeing to this flashed through her mind. Like, what if something goes wrong with it? How will you get it out? Can you get it out? How can injecting me with something teach anybody a new language anyway?
But he already had the thing against her neck, behind her right ear. Before she could stop him to ask some of those questions she heard a hissing sound and gasped against what felt like the worst combination brain-freeze and migraine of her life.
Ra’kur made soft, soothing growls as her hands came up to her temples in an effort to keep her head from exploding. She was struggling to keep her breathing even, trying not to throw up as Ra’kur stroked her hair.
She groaned and pressed her hands harder against the sides of her head as the pain grew worse. “God, that fucking hurts!”
“—stand me?”
Jenna brought her throbbing head up. “What?”
Ra’kur leaned forward, his bright eyes anxious. “Can you understand me now?”
He was still growling; she could hear the growling but in her head she heard words.
“Oh, wow,” she breathed. “That’s weird.”
Ra’kur searched her face worriedly. “Little bird, can you understand me?”
She pushed her hair away from her face. “Yeah, I can understand you.”
“Are you still in pain?”
The throbbing was starting to fade. “It’s getting better now.”
He let his breath out. “Thank the All Mother. It should not have hurt you so much.”
“The ‘All Mother’?”
He tilted his head. “What do you call the giver of all life?”
“Uh, Pap was an agnostic but he liked some of the eastern stuff, like Buddhism.” Ra’kur was looking at her blankly. “Okay, I’d say ‘God.’” She gave a short, choked laugh. “We’re talking. We’re actually talking. You’re speaking your language and I’m speaking mine and we’re talking.”
He smiled back. “There has been so much I wanted to say to you. But first I must thank you for your courage, for your trust.”
Jenna thought about falling on her butt in the snow, screaming her head off as she tried to get away from him yesterday. “Yeah, I don’t think I’d call myself ‘courageous.’”
“You let me place the linguistic implant.”
“That’s what you injected?”
“Of course.” He looked puzzled. “You said humans had many languages. You must have similar devices.”
“No, we don’t have anything like this.”
“How can you speak to one another?”
“Well, some people grow up speaking more than one language and others learn as—Can we get back to whatever you just injected me with?”
He touched the base of her skull. “Is it malfunctioning? I can understand you.”
“No, it’s working fine but how is it working?”
“It attaches to the language center of your brain. The chip transmits the translation directly.”
She stared. “I have an alien chip in my brain?”
“Yes.”
“Uh, okay,” she said after a moment. “I guess I’m the only one here who has a problem with this.”
His brow creased instantly and he lifted the instrument again. “Does it still pain you? Do you feel dizzy?”
“I mean the concept of—Wait, what would you do if it did still hurt?”
“I would remove it.”
“But then I wouldn’t be able to talk to you.”
“I would learn English.” His fingers brushed her cheek. “I would never let you hurt if I could help it. I would do anything to keep you from hurting.”
“It’s okay now,” she assured him. “It doesn’t hurt anymore.”
He put the instrument down and took her hands in his. “There is so much I wish to know about you.” He gave a short laugh. “I want to know everything.”
“I want to know about you too. Like, where are you from?”
“A world very far from here.”
“You probably don’t need to dumb it down quite so much,” she said, a little annoyed. “I’m not stupid.”
His face flushed. “I do not think you are stupid but your world is very primitive. I am not sure you will understand.”
“So just ignorant then?” And it stung a bit on account of he was probably right but she had inherited Pap’s pride along with his brown eyes. “Try me.”
“My world is Hir. It is the fourth planet of the Sarion system, sector twelve.”
“Oh.” After a moment she blew her breath out. “Okay, no, I don’t know where that is.”
He smiled. “There is no reason you should. My people have never come this far.”
“You said there were few g’hir now.” He’d actually said “little,” but she took that to be “few.” “What did you mean?”
His face clouded. “The g’hir are dying.”
Her grip tightened on his hands. “You’re dying?”
“No, my kind is,” he said roughly. “The Scourge is killing us.”
“The Scourge? What’s that?”
“Biological warfare.” His eyes flashed. “The war was nearly at an end. The Zerar cities were destroyed, their military smashed, they were days from defeat.” Hate sharpened his features. “Then they unleashed the Scourge on us.”
“Wait, it’s a disease?”
“A hideous one, designed to kill our souls along with our kind,” he said hoarsely, looking at her hands in his. “It kills only females.”
She should be ashamed for feeling this way but Jenna’s shoulders fell in relief. “So men don’t catch it?”
“No,” he snarled. “We were left untouched, left to watch our females die. Our mothers, our clansisters, lifemates, daughters. I cannot tell you what it means to one of us, who have such instinct to protect . . .” She saw him swallow. “Few survived. Perhaps one female in five hundred did. Now the g’hir are dying out.”
“That should be enough, shouldn’t it?” she asked, frowning. “To rebuild your species over time?”
“Not all that survived were young. Or left fertile.”
Oh, man . . .
“How long have you been alone, Ra’kur?” she asked quietly.
His eyes were haunted. “The Scourge first came to our outer colonies when I was eight summers. In weeks half our population was dead. Our society was destroyed, our warriors shattered. None of the females of my blood survived.”
“I’m sorry.” She’d lost Pap but he’d had a good, long life. She couldn’t imagine what it would be like to lose so many.
“As soon as I could I began searching. I have been searching for years.”
“Searching?” Jenna asked. “For what?”
“You,” Ra’kur growled softly, cupping her check. “My little bird. My lifemate.”
“What?” she blurted.
“Lifemate.” He tilted his head. “A female I have mate-bonded to.”
“Mate-bonded.” She gave a nod. “Okay, sure. Mate-bonded.”
“You cannot say you do not remember.” He gave a short laugh. “You chose me.”
“I did?”
His brow creased a little. “I captured you. You took drink from me. You let me feed you.”
Jenna blinked. “So all you had to do is give me something to eat and drink? What about the sex?”
He grinned. “That too.”
“That’s why you shot me?”
“I gave you ample time to run away if you did not find me a desirable mate.” He searched her face and his brow creased. “I thought you wished to make it easy for me.”
“I was running away
. And in case you haven’t noticed, I move a lot slower than you do.”
“You did not wish to be captured? Was that not a mating cry you made?”
“A mating—? Uh, no, that’s called screaming and humans do that when we’re frightened.”
“You were frightened?” His frown deepened. “Of what?”
“Are you kidding? How about a huge alien coming out of nowhere and roaring at me?”
“I invited you to mate with me!” he exclaimed, affronted.
“That was a mating call?”
“How do human males invite a female to mate?”
“Well, in college it’s ‘what’s your major'?’ Then it’s ‘so, what do you do?’” Ra’kur’s frown deepened and Jenna waved it off. “Never mind. In any case, he’d come up and just talk to me.”
“Then ask you to mate?”
“Not right off, not without getting his face slapped. Maybe he’d tell me I’m pretty.”
“I did,” he said impatiently. “Why else would I make a mating call to you?”
She blinked. “You think I’m pretty?”
His expression was caught between frustration and disbelief. “You are beautiful.” His face clouded again. “I fear you are too beautiful.”
He really seemed to mean that. She was okay-looking but no raving beauty for God’s sake. Jenna ducked her head. “I can’t tell if that’s a compliment or not.”
“It is fact. You are delicate, lovely.” His glance went over her. “And your female scent is very arousing.”
“Oh.” Jenna’s cheeks went hot. “Thanks . . . I think.”
His gaze met hers. “You are embarrassed.”
“Sometimes human men say things about the way a woman smells that are—uh, not very complimentary.”
He paused, thoughtful. “Then human males have a very poor sense of smell.”
“I’ve been wondering about that—Just how good is yours?”
He took a light sniff at her. “You are fertile now.”
He was right, she was between her periods and she shut her eyes briefly. “Can we talk about something that doesn’t have to do with my intimate anatomy? Like—could you hear Bill coming or smell him first?”
“Bill?” The translator implant thing was working but when he said the name it sounded like an angry snarl. “The male who entered our shelter today?”
“Yeah, Bill, the sheriff.”
“What is ‘sheriff’? This is not a word in Hironian.”
“That’s your language? Hironian?” He gave a nod and she continued, “A sheriff is someone who enforces the law. Bill’s a sheriff.”
“This male is a peacekeeper?”
“That sounds about right. So, smell or heard? Which was it?”
He considered. “Heard. Then the foul scent of the vehicle, then the smell of the peacekeeper and a female’s sex scent on him.”
She giggled. Wow, way to go, Sarah Jane.
“I’m sorry,” she said in response to Ra’kur’s confused look. “I didn’t realize he and Sarah Jane were together ’til he slipped a bit talking this morning. Bill would be absolutely mortified if he knew anyone could smell that they’d been having sex.”
“How could any not know he has a lifemate? It is obvious.”
“He and Sarah Jane aren’t, uh, lifemates. They’re just dating.”
“What is that?”
“Dating?” She shrugged. “You know, like dinner and a movie and stuff. Spending time together, to see if you like one another enough to take it further.”
“I smelled the female’s sex scent on him,” he insisted. “They must be mate-bonded.”
Houston, we have a problem . . . “Ra’kur, people can have sex without being lifemates.”
His sharp glance went over her. “There was no male’s scent on you.”
“I bet there wasn’t.” She pushed her hair back. “It’s been a long time.”
His gaze narrowed. “You have had sex with a human male, Jenna?”
“Yes, of course I have.”
He sure looked put out now.
Hey, sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander, pal. Jenna folded her arms. “Have you had sex with a g’hir female?”
“No,” he growled, his tone chilly.
Idiot! Of course he hasn’t. Not if most of them are dead, if they died while he was so young. But that would mean . . .
His wide, seeking gaze the first time, the eager clumsiness when he entered her, how he needed her cues to learn how to thrust—
Oh, my God.
She wet her lips. “Ra’kur, have you had sex with anyone?”
“I have mated with you,” he said, his growl sharp, hurt.
“So . . . I was your first?”
His glowing alien eyes were raw. “First,” he said hoarsely. “Only. Forever.”
“Oh,” she breathed.
He turned away. “I have to fix the ship.”
Nine
“Fix it?” Jenna followed him back into the corridor. “What’s wrong with it?”
“The Zerar weapons blew out the directional assembly. If I cannot fix it there is no way home.”
“The Zerar?” she cried. “They’re still around? I thought you said the war was almost over.”
“They are rebuilding while the Scourge brings my own people to ruin.”
“Ra’kur!” She caught his arm. “Is there any chance the Zerar could come here?”
His fangs flashed. “I will never allow anyone to hurt you!”
“I wasn’t—I mean, my world, Earth. Are we in danger from the Zerar?”
“Everyone is in danger from the Zerar,” he snarled. “They are monsters; demons who must be wiped from existence!”
Jenna felt herself blanch and his expression softened.
“I do not think they will come here,” he said. “It was an accident that I did. The directional assembly was damaged and the jump brought me here instead. Your world is far from our area of space. I was surprised the wormhole I generated could have brought me to so distant a place.”
“That’s how you travel? You open a wormhole?” She was pleased it came out sounding like she had the slightest idea what she was talking about. “So . . . so this ship opens a kind of doorway in space from one place to another and you just fly through? But couldn’t they do that too?”
“It is not an easy thing to do; it takes a great deal of power to travel this far. I was fired upon in the moment I opened the wormhole. Instead of jumping to Hir’s orbit, I arrived here. Almost before I understood what had happened I hit your world’s atmosphere. I was lucky to land at all.”
“But the only thing wrong with your ship is that assembly thing is broken?”
Just the thought of him leaving made her feel a little panicky and a wicked, selfish thought wormed into her mind.
What if he can’t go home? What if he has to stay here—with me?
And then . . .what? Take him to Dolly’s Diner and introduce him around Brittle Bridge as my boyfriend? Take day trips into Asheville to check out the new art exhibits? Hit the farmers market come summer and spend days sitting on the porch and eating strawberry pie with the town alien?
He couldn’t stay here. If anyone found out about him the government would take him away and wipe out all evidence he had ever existed. They would take her away too. Sex with an alien? She’d be a lab rat as quick as he. Even if they got to the media and went public before the government found out, people would fear him, hate him.
And he couldn’t spend a lifetime hiding in the cabin.
He had to leave. As soon as he could.
Don’t think about it, just don’t, just like Pap, ’cause if I do I’ll fall apart and I have to be strong.
“Yes, but I cannot open a wormhole until it is repaired and the ship has only enough power left to make a single jump now. No,” he corrected, “I can open a wormhole but I will not be able to control where it opens and that would be far worse.”
“Okay, what do you need to
fix it?”
“I do not know,” he admitted. “I have not examined it yet.”
“You haven’t even looked at it?” Man, that’d be the first thing she did if she found herself stuck on some strange world.
“I intended to. I was in the cockpit, happy to have landed at all, dismayed to find myself in this frozen place, on this alien world and then”—his eyes shone—“I saw you.”
“Oh.” She couldn’t help a little smile, then she remembered something. “Wait a minute. Why did you handcuff me?”
“Do what?”
She held her wrist up, her finger and thumb touching around it. “The cuffs. Why did you handcuff me?”
“To prove I was a warrior worthy of you. To show that I could capture any prey, even you.” When she didn’t respond, he said impatiently, “If you did not find me a desirable mate, you should have taken them off.”
“I was trying to take them off!” He looked hurt and she ducked her head. “And of course I wanted you. I mean, jeez, you know that I do.”
His fingers went under her chin to tilt her face up. “I am grateful for the gift of your human kiss. It is very arousing.”
“I like the nose rubbing too.” She could feel herself flush. “And that rumbling sound you make.”
He took a step closer. “It is to ready your opening for coupling and heighten your experience.”
“Well, it does the job,” she mumbled. “And how.”
He traced her lower lip with the tip of his finger. “I want so much to pleasure you now.” He gave a frustrated half-groan. “But I cannot ignore my responsibilities. Allow me to examine the assembly and determine the needed repairs . . .” He bent down to brush his mouth against hers, the softest of rumble-purrs tightening her center. “And I will bring you to your pleasure until you beg me to stop.”
“That might take a while.” Jenna teased, a bit breathless now. “You know, I actually wore out one of those rabbit things once.”
His brow creased. “Rabbit things?”
“Probably don’t have vibrators on your world; I can’t imagine a woman ever needing one.” He looked mystified and she patted his chest. “Come on, let’s get a look at the assembly thing before I try to wear you out too.”
