Her life depended on it.
She reached down and grabbed another tissue, which she then used to wipe her eyes. As she placed the damp thing back in its place, she looked back at the road to find something quickly approaching.
A cat? A dog?
She slammed on her breaks, but the resistance caused her wheels to lock, skidding over the water. Everything from the road ahead to the trees on either side of the path whirled all around her until it became a nondescript blob.
Her whole body froze up except for her arms, which feverishly turned the wheel this way and that as she attempted to get the car going back in at least one direction. The next thing she knew, the smooth road had been replaced by something bumpy. Her car thudded along before the front slammed against something.
Emily jerked forward, her hair falling out of its tight bun and landing in a curly mess in front of her face. A sharp pang shot up her neck. Her eyes flashed wide at the pain, tears of shock streaming down her face.
As soon as her body drifted back, the entire truck flipped over whatever it was that it had hit. Her head slammed against the roof before the thing finally met the ground. Her seatbelt dug into her neck as the truck skidded to a stop, its right side slamming into the wood of a tree.
The last thing she heard was the sound of it falling over and hitting the ground with a resounding boom.
Chapter Five
Lycon stood in front of the clerk at the last gas station before a long stretch of highway. He thought he would make sure he was going in the right direction before he committed.
As he slipped the candid picture he had taken of Emily out of his back pocket, he reassured himself that she would have stopped here. She had to have. Anyone with their head screwed on right would want to fill their tank before heading out west…and this was the last place she could have done so.
He presented the picture to the disinterested cashier, inquiring about the woman. He gave a curt nod, the blank stare in his eyes making it obvious he didn’t know or care what Lycon planned to do with this information.
Lycon left the gas station with a tentative smile on his face, telling himself that he was that much closer to securing what he had always needed.
***
Emily’s eyes flashed open, her head pounding. She tried to get up but found herself inhibited by her seatbelt. The first logical step was to take it off. When she did this she collapsed onto the ceiling of her tuck. A pained grunt slipped out of her mouth and diffused out into the air surrounding her.
No sooner did the resounding ache in her shoulder from this fade away than she became aware of all the other pains that plagued her. She couldn’t believe it was possible for her chest, or her head or her legs, to hurt so much without her being dead.
She knew from an adventurous childhood that she could heal quickly, but her brow furrowed as she fought her way out of that truck, because a prominent part of her didn’t think she would make it out of this alive.
Once outside, she quickly learned it hurt far too much to stand up straight. She hunched over, her arm clutching her abdomen as she told herself to ignore the ripping pain. She scoured the area around the totaled truck, looking for her bag. She found it strewn about twenty feet away, but when she tried to pick it up, the pain erupting in nearly every part of her body told her she probably wouldn’t be able to take it with her.
She knew of a small settlement about ten miles out. She bit her lip, telling herself that she could do it. She could walk ten miles without getting dehydrated, or advancing her injuries or being attacked by something wild.
She shook her head. She couldn’t think of any of that. She had to keep going.
She just had to.
***
Lycon drove for almost two hours before he saw anything promising. He slowed the Volvo at the sight of skid marks on the pavement straight ahead. He glanced right and left, using his enhanced vision to guide his search until he saw it, a glint of metal in the post-storm sunlight coming from several hundred feet off road.
He parked his car and followed the sight until he found himself staring at what was undeniably her crashed truck. His heart stopped as he stared.
“Emily,” he muttered as he rushed toward it. But he stopped just short of the driver’s door. He couldn’t deny the cloud of guilt inevitably rolling in. What if she was dead? That thought filled him with guilt in light of his previous anger. The thought that he had lost her was more than he could bare. How could he have let her die on his watch? How could he have driven her out of town like this?
His stomach rolled around and his heart thudded against his chest as he took the three necessary steps to the driver’s seat. But his eyes flashed wide when he found it empty. He glanced all around him, looking for a body. To him, it was far more likely that she had been thrown from the truck and then somehow continued on away.
But as he continued to search, the latter seemed like the only explanation.
With his relief came a perplexed stare. She must have been desperate to get away from something other than him.
***
Emily stopped walking. Her feet were beyond hurting. She couldn’t even feel them anymore. The sun beat down on her, burning her tender skin. Sweat sprouted from her pores, dripping into her cuts. The burn added to the chorus of other ailments distracting her from her purpose.
But as she stood, gazing straight ahead, too tired to even shield her eyes from the sun, she could hardly find a reason to keep going. Fatigue dominated her every thought, the pain a cloud looming over head.
Before she knew it, her legs had buckled and she was heading toward the ground. Her head hit the hardened dirt with a thud. Her body relaxed, the burn throbbing through her muscles, her rib cage, crying for mercy.
She could sense her heart slowing before her eyes flickered shut. No. This was too far. She never meant to sleep…
But now she hardly had a choice.
Chapter Six
Emily awoke to find herself in her own bed. She sucked in a breath, noting how simple this task was. Pain free. She closed her eyes and opened them again, but she was still laying in her own bed. This wasn’t a dream.
Lycon. Somehow she felt his presence but, she couldn’t see him anywhere around her.
Mauve sat sleeping on her small couch.
She licked her lips, her tongue no softer than sandpaper. She spotted a glass of water on her right side table, but when she went to pick it up, it slipped right through her fingers, crashing to the floor.
Mauve jumped at the sound, glancing around him before his eyes finally landed on Emily.
A soft smile stretched across his face. “There you are.”
“What happened? Did you go after me?”
But Mauve shook his head.
Emily’s heart dropped. That meant Lycon must have found her, which meant her little problem was far from being resolved.
“There was a man that came looking for you. He said that you had made some sort of agreement?”
Emily nodded. “Lycon.”
“Well he came back hours later with you.” Mauve stood up and came to her bedside. “I couldn’t take you to the hospital because of who you are, but he seemed to know what to do.”
Emily furrowed her brow. “So what did he do?”
“You were near dead and you had lost a lot of blood, and we had no medication so he just gave you his.”
Emily’s eyes went wide. “He gave me his blood?”
Mauve nodded. “It was the only way.”
“Is he okay?”
“I think so. He slept for hours but he’s gone now.”
Emily’s heart fell. Why would he leave her? She had spent so much time under his magnifying glass that she felt empty and exposed without it. “He’s gone?”
“He said something about…” Mauve shook his head. “It wasn’t worth your life? He would find another way? I don’t know.”
Emily’s eyes went wide. He had given up on her. “That was my last ch
ance at uncovering Mum and Dad. He’s Kaharan, Mauve.”
His eyes went wide. “I’m sorry, love.”
Emily closed her eyes. “It could never have worked. You know my condition.”
“… about that…”
Emily’s eyes flashed open.
“It turns out that you and Lycon were somehow a perfect match. The transfusion saved you. Your blood and body are different now because of him. You can live a normal life.”
Her eyes prickled with tears of joy. “So I can…”
“Have a child, yes…and survive it too.”
She clutched her sheets. “This is so strange,” she whispered. What were the odds that this unique set of events would transpire? What were the odds that they would lead to her getting her life back?
Lycon.
There it was again, the essence of him. She could feel herself being pulled, but not just to the idea to him, to an actual location.
Could it be?
“I have to find him.”
She sat up, ignoring the way her head spun.
“How?”
“I think I know where he is.”
Mauve just furrowed his brow.
“I don’t know how,” she said as she drew her hair up into a ponytail, “but I just know.” She made her way to her closet and pulled the doors open. “Do you still have my wet suit?”
“From your surfing days?” Mauve asked, his eyes alight with amusement.
Emily shook her head. The thought of getting salt water from the Pacific Ocean in her nose in front of all the judges still made her cringe. “Yes, Mauve, from my surfing days.”
He shook his head as he walked away. “So glad that’s over.”
Chapter Seven
An hour later, Emily had followed her newfound sixth sense to the oceanfront just outside of Goolway. The waves tumbled over each other, calm but living in a way. She sucked in a deep breath and then slipped out of her leather sandals. The water was lukewarm as it lapped over her feet. She closed her eyes, hoping that the pull had been wrong, that it would now lead her to somewhere completely different, somewhere that wasn’t hundreds of feet underwater.
But it had only gotten stronger.
This was the only way to Lycon.
She sucked in a deep breath. “If he can do it, I can.”
With that, she stepped into the ocean…
She waded and then she swam, her eyes coated with an extra protective layer, one she had never noticed before that allowed her to see under the water. She pushed with her muscles, her blood, his blood coursing through her veins, until finally she saw it.
His sub raider emerged out of a dark, watery cloud, a steal beast. She circled it over and over again, part of her looking for a way in and another part of her gawking at the wonder of it all. Suddenly Lycon seemed so much more desirable. His underwater layer rendered him mysterious and forbidden. This was a place where a person could disappear.
Finally she found it, a latch right on the underbelly. She pulled it, her muscles burning in protest, and watched it open. The water current pushed her into this new compartment. Her eyes flashed wide in alarm, but then she told herself to relax.
Everything was going to be okay.
The essence of him had filled her.
As the latch shut, another smaller compartment opened, allowing the water to drain by vacuum power. Soon enough she was able to touch her feet down onto the ground.
No sooner had all of the water drained than she saw a figure coming through an archway, an opened pipe.
“Lycon,” she sighed.
He shook his head, his stare darker than ever as he approached her. “I couldn’t believe what I was feeling, that you could really be coming for me.”
Emily let out a short laugh. “You saved my life. How could I not?” she said as she took her first step toward him. That empowered her to keep going. She didn’t stop until her body was pressed against his and her arms were wrapped around his neck.
“My actions nearly killed you.”
“You can’t blame yourself.”
He wrapped his arms around her. “I hunted you for so long. I stalked you and schemed, and yet I never realized how awful it would feel when you ran from me.”
She shook her head, nustling it into his chest. “I didn’t run from you. Believe me, I wanted to come with you. I wanted to…” Then she began to tear up. “Before you saved me…”
“I know.” Lycon took her face in his hands. “Mauve told me of your condition. I wish you felt that you could be honest with me. My goals, my family’s name…all of Kahara is not worth your sacrifice.”
Emily kissed him, her lips dancing with his as a hunger she did not even realize she had been carrying her whole life was finally being satiated. “Now it doesn’t have to be.”
Lycon chuckled, his massive frame shaking with laughter. He kissed her neck and then her shoulder. The small flame in the back of her head became an all-encompassing fire. She clawed at his shirt as he deftly unzipped her wet suit.
He peeled it off her, stopping to marvel at her naked body.
Emily bit her lip, pulling him by the belt loops.
He hoisted her up, her legs straddling him. “Come away with me,” he said.
Emily smiled. “With pleasure.”
And with that, he carried her through the oversized pipes and back into his bedroom.
THE END
Captivated by the Alien Lord
Kahara Lords
Book 7
(Can be read as a standalone book)
By: Lindsay Blanc
Captivated by the Alien Lord
Preface
Refinery 29
An Editorial by Lilian Marks.
Tonight I journeyed all the way to the west coast—Seattle to be exact, a city us New Yorkers snobbishly forget exist more often then we’d like to admit.
But I digress.
My first encounter with performance artist Lacey Dane was on a flyer outside a small café on Main Street. It had been taped to a light pole, “Missing Person” style. Normally I wouldn’t stop to read papers on light posts, but this flyer was more than that.
In fact, it wasn’t made of paper at all, but of some amalgam of metals and jewels. The thing glinted in whatever sunlight bled through the heavy bank of clouds. Someone had melded the compact piece to the wood itself, yet that shouldn’t have been possible.
The curves and cuts of every forced substance guided my eye from the top left corner of the piece to the bottom right, taking me on a chaotic journey in between that ended in an address, a date, and a name.
Lacey Danes.
Chapter One
Marak burst through the heavy doors of their brand new conference room. It belonged to the first Kaharan settlement on Earth in eight hundred years. He let the heavy oak door slam behind him as he joined his colleague and old classmate at the center table.
“Glad to see you finally decided to come,” he said as his eyes followed Marak.
Marak sat down across from him, an apologetic grimace on his face. “No need for the sarcasm, Turen,” he said, going right for the map right in front of the both of them. He scanned the curves and jagged edges that represented the dynamic Alaskan country side they had managed to inhabit.
Turen ducked his head. “I’ve been sitting here twenty minutes. I think I’ve earned a little sarcasm.”
Marak let out a dry chuckle. “Twenty minutes isn’t even long enough for a human to finish a meal.”
Turen raised one of his bushy brows. “You have officially spent too much time in that city.”
Marak lifted his eyes from the map. “That city has a name: Seattle, and you’ll need to learn these things if you want to be a convincing human.”
Turen rolled his eyes. “Who wants to be a convincing human?”
“We all do…if we want this settlement to survive.”
Turen glanced out the window on the back wall.
Marak followed his gaze, taking
in the rolling, snow covered hills and the sun reflecting off of their glistening tops.
Turen shook his head. “It’s a long shot.”
Marak chuckled. “Is that another one you learned from your human girlfriend?”
Turen’s lips folded into an impish grin. “She isn’t my girlfriend, just the governor’s secretary…and I haven’t seen her since the commander came down and fixated him.”
Marak stifled a groan. “Don’t remind me. It’s been almost five weeks since he gave us this land, and I still don’t have a single idea for town hall.”
Turen grimaced. “Is it really that serious? Just use some Roman columns. The humans love those.”
Marak shook his head, staring intently at nothing in particular. “No. No, it’s gotta be more than that. I want something that will camouflage us, of course…but I also want something more. When the others are ready to settle, I want them to be reminded of home. I want them to adopt this place as their own. They have to. It’s the only chance we have at surviving.”
Turen nodded and then glanced at his watch. “Well that’s all the time we have for our progress report.”
Marak shrugged as he stood up. “I have been surveying. There’s no one else around here. And you know about town hall.”
Turen frowned, nodding. “And I’m still working on a pipeline to get water in and out without it freezing in the process.” He paused, glancing back at the map. “It’s no wonder no one lives this far north.”
“Well, it looks like neither of us have made any progress,” Marak said, his hand on the door. “I doubt we even needed the full thirty minutes.”
Turen chuckled. “Are you kidding? I love waiting for you.”
Marak opened the door. “I hope you’re right.”
***
After another hour of staring at a blank grid of paper, Marak decided he could get nothing done in a place where the nearest real source of inspiration was a hundred miles away. So, he jumped into the jet Turen had modeled and had named Trump 2.0 after some American billionaire.
MILITARY ROMANCE: The War Within Himself (Alpha Bad Boy Marine Army Seal) (Contemporary Military Suspense & Thriller Romance) Page 80
