He must be able to see the confusion on my face because he adds, “Someone showed me the security footage of the past few nights, and all your little sparring meetups in the middle of the night? What’s up with those?”
I look into his eyes, even though I’m embarrassed, and a little upset.
“I was just training him,” I say defensively. Cal sees that we’re completely alone now, and to my shock I’m suddenly pressed hard against the wall. His face is inches from mine, and I can feel the malice on his breath.
“You’re mine, you know that?” he says.
I’m completely floored, I can barely move. He’s never acted this way towards me before, and the look on his face is terrifying.
“I don’t belong to anyone,” I tell him. “You even said so yourself. Once the Cordelia’s back on Earth, we go our separate ways. Did you forget that?”
He shoves me harder into the wall, his hands like iron grips on my arms. I’m terrified, but I never let it cross my face.
“I don’t like to share.” He says through his teeth. “Especially not with any Ventran scum.” This remark really sets me off. Nobody should talk that way about any species. I throw him off of me, despite my shock.
“I’m not a piece of property,” I tell him. “And we’re done anyway… as of right now, actually.” This seems to hit a note with him, fueling his rage.
“You don’t mean that,” he says.
“Every word,” I nod, feeling my knees shake. “I thought you were different, but you’ve really showed yourself today, and I’m not letting myself get kicked around,” I add for good measure. He steps forward, about to lunge for me again when someone shouts
“Hey!” from the doorway.
It’s Raeden, to my relief.
“Speak of the devil,” Cal huffs. Raeden steps next to me, creating a wall between Cal and I. Cal already looks much smaller than him from this angle. Cal seems to realize this too, and steps away. “Something wrong here?” Raeden inquires. “It looks like you’re causing her some distress.”
“Piss off, Ventran,” Cal snorts as he takes another fiery look at me before walking towards the lifts. As soon as he’s gone, I slide my back down the wall, holding my knees towards my chest. I can feel Raeden’s warmth beside me. He keeps his distance, giving me space.
“Are you alright?” He asks softly. I nod, trying to swallow the lump in my throat.
“He’s an asshole…” I mutter. “’ Wasted so much time with him…”
I look up at see Raeden extending his arm, waiting.
“May I?” he asks.
I nod again, and he puts his arm around me. I lean my head against his shoulder, taking in the comfort of his presence.
“Thanks,” I say. “I could’ve taken him, though.”
“I believe it,” Raeden says with a faint smile. I return it, grateful that he was still around to help de-escalate everything.
“Hey…” I ask him. “Have you eaten yet?”
Raeden sits across from me in a corner table of the mess hall. We both pick at our trays, slightly more interested in each other than our food.
“So,” I say. “You never told me you were a Ventran.” Raeden looks around, a little concerned. “I have a hard time talking about my home sometimes,” he says.
“I’ve heard Ventra is a beautiful planet, though,” I tell him. “Aren’t they a peaceful people?”
Raeden nods. “We’re very peaceful. Our military is not that strong. I’m more concerned about this mission, though,” he tells me.
“How so?” I ask.
He leans forward in his seat, closer to me. “Ventran mineral is extremely powerful,” he explains. “It has properties that allow it to bend the space around it. It also holds an incredible energy.”
“But that’s what Earth is using it for. Our planet needs sustainable energy to survive,” I say.
Raeden shakes his head. “The Krillux are hoping to use the mineral for weapons,” he explains. “I don’t think they realize how strong this material is. My people can build a thriving city around just one piece of the mineral, though we choose not to.”
“Why don’t they?” I ask. “I mean, something that powerful would be incredible to have.”
“My people don’t believe in excess,” he says. “We live simple lives, using only smaller resources around us. We believe the mineral is precious to us, a gift from a higher power that must be respected. We don’t want to use it unless it’s absolutely necessary.”
“Then what are they trying to accomplish by giving it away?” I ask. Raeden looks even more concerned, and sad at this question.
“We never wanted to,” he says gravely. “I fear there is something forcing us to give up our land. What it is, I’m not sure. I haven’t seen anyone from Ventra that I could ask. I’m the only one in the Krillux so far. Nobody on my ship understands the dangers of what this mission could bring.”
I didn’t realize how dangerous this mission was supposed to be. Dad never disclosed this kind of information to me, especially if land was being taken away from other people. There are rules that are made, contracts that are signed, and very carefully orchestrated regulations to follow. Surely my father would know not to violate any of those, wouldn’t he? I ponder this for a moment, and I can tell Raeden is wondering if something is wrong.
“What about you?” he asks, turning the conversation around. “What brings you on the Cordelia?”
I take a sip of my protein-modified juice and roll my eyes. “I’m pretty much here against my will,” I tell him jokingly. He nervously laughs at this turn of phrase, not sure if it’s a joke or not. “My mom passed away when I was a kid,” I explain. “After that, I was pretty much dragged around military bases on Earth with my dad until the Space Resource Program became a thing.”
“Sounds like an exciting childhood, seeing a lot of places,” he says.
I shrug. “I reached an age where I could do whatever I wanted, but couldn’t think of a single thing to do. Dad told me there isn’t really anything more valuable to do with your life other than serve your own country. For some reason I thought this was my only option. So when he was assigned the Cordelia a few months back as the captain, I of course, decided to tag along with him.”
“Sounds like quite the responsibility,” he says.
“It has its perks,” I tell him. “But it’s still hard to live up to my dad’s expectations.”
“And what are those expectations?”
“Oh, there’s plenty. Do what you’re told. Don’t make the captain look bad. Don’t jeopardize any missions. Know what your purpose is at all times. There’s more but I can’t keep track of all of them.”
Raeden swivels his cup from one hand to the other, thinking. He looks up at me softly, as if he’s been thinking of this for a while.
“Are you jeopardizing your mission by spending time with me?” He asks.
I never thought about it, but it probably doesn’t look the best that we’ve been spending so much time together. Then again, aren’t we supposed to be working with the Krillux in the first place? What would be the harm in spending time with Raeden?
“I just might be,” I tell him with a smile. “But, it’s worth it I’d say. Wouldn’t you?”
Raeden looks into my eyes, and I can feel my stomach fluttering. I really meant it, but would he?
“I’d say so, too.” He replies. Relief washes over me, followed by a strange sense of longing. I think about how he held me earlier in the hallway, and how I wouldn’t mind if he did it again … or a number of other things.
CHAPTER 6: FORBIDDEN
RAEDEN
I’m exhilarated each night when I go to sleep. I dream of Alex, and the compassion she’s shown me. It fills me with a strange sense of belonging, something I haven’t felt in a long time.
One evening, I make my way to the showers, before returning to the ship for the night. It’s been a long day of training, and I’m eager to have some time to myself
before we receive our mission briefings. We’re going to land on Ventra soon, to begin the extraction, so we’re expected to be at our best.
The shower is warm and inviting, though I’m still uncomfortable being naked in front of anyone here. Luckily I have this shower to myself, as everyone else seems to be packing up their things for the night. As the rushing water runs over me, I think about her smile, and the smell of her hair as she leaned her head on me the other day. I can feel my mind wandering with thoughts of her, the mysteries of what she looks like out of uniform, and the softness of her skin and what she’d feel like with her body pressed against mine.
My thoughts are interrupted by a loud commotion, which startles me. Another showerhead turns on, and I turn to see that it’s Cal, the horrible human that treated Alex so harshly. He runs the water over his body, and I immediately become self-conscious about my nakedness. Several others join him, all of them are muscular and well-built. I recognize some of them from the advanced combat class. At first I don’t think anything of it, until one of them strides up to me. Before I can ask what they need, I’m met with a fist to my stomach.
I keel over, clutching my gut as a searing pain seeps through it. The men start to shout, and I can’t hear what they’re saying over the rushing shower. Soon, they’re all around me, yelling as they continue to throw me around, pushing me into the wall, holding my head under the water.
“You think you’re bigger than me?” Cal says in my ear. “This is what happens when filthy aliens take something that doesn’t belong to them.”
I can’t breathe. The water is too much, and I’m choking on it as they raise the pressure. Flashes of horrible images flood my mind as their jeering and their laughter surround me. I see a small boy, being ripped away from his family by cruel warriors. He’s thrown onto a stand and sold at an auction. He’s being beaten, like I’m being beaten now. Word’s such as “worthless,” and “slave,” are thrown at him like punches. He’s forced to work in a mine, scraping away at rocks for no pay, going to bed hungry each night.
Cal pulls me out of the water, and I realize that I’m still in a nightmare; one that’s just as worse. I cough up the water, and the men laugh at me, dropping me on the slippery tile.
“Why don’t you fight back?” one of them jeers. I stay on the floor. I will not fight. I will not waste my anger on these weak-minded fools. Cal bends down, getting closer to my face.
“You stay away from Alex,” he warns. “And while you’re at it, why don’t you learn your place and go back to where you came from?”
Their laughter disappears as the door slams behind them. I sit up, shaking and naked on the floor, feeling hot tears threatening to stream down my face. I will not cry here, where others can see me. I get up and find my clothes, feeling an incredible weight on my heart.
ALEX
The lights in my room went out again, and of course maintenance is done for the night. I head towards the repair section to do it myself, cursing that I still have to do things like this on my own. I notice that the door to one of the maintenance rooms is already cracked open. I push it open, cautiously. The room is filled with large cube-like structures, with screens that tell the crew where problems are on the ship. A large window overlooks outer space, with Ventra on the horizon.
As I get closer to a supply closet, I hear a faint crying coming from near the window. Anyone would take this as a sign to get the hell out, but there was something almost familiar about it. As I inch my way closer, hiding behind one of the monitor cubes, I notice that it’s Raeden, curled up in front of the window. My heart sinks at the sight of him upset.
“Hey,” I say softly, trying not to scare him. It does anyway, and he jerks up quickly to see if a threat is present. He’s relieved when he sees me instead.
“Hey,” he says, wiping his face, embarrassed.
I take a seat on the carpet next to him. He shies away, as if I’m going to hurt him or something.
“What happened to you?” I ask.
“Nothing,” he says. “Sorry, I’d just like to be alone.”
“I don’t want to leave you like this,” I tell him. “You don’t have to say anything. I’ll just sit here if you want.” He looks at me, his eyes tired and swollen. I notice a dark mark under one of his eyes. “Oh my God!” I exclaim. “What happened to you?” Raeden turns his gaze towards the enormous window, pulling his knees tighter to his chest.
“Cal,” he says quietly, defeated. “He and some others cornered me in the showers.”
I can feel myself shaking with rage. How could someone do something like this? “I’ll deal with him,” I mutter. “Beat the shit out of him if I have to.”
I stand up to leave; to go give Cal the beating of a lifetime, but Raeden grabs my arm, pulling me back down next to him.
“There’s nothing to learn if you meet violence with more violence,” he says.
He’s right. I hold out my arm. “May I?” I ask, and Raeden nods as he recognizes the gesture. I put my arm around him, pulling him closer to me. We sit in silence for a while, with Raeden’s tears subsiding.
“I’ve been in fights before,” he says quietly. “But this is the first one that’s really brought me back.”
“Back to what?” I ask.
“I used to live happily on Ventra,” he explains. “Some traders came to our planet, but we learned they were hostile. They killed my family, leaving me alive so they could sell me to a mining colony, basically as a slave. I worked hard for them, just trying not to get myself killed, but I was beaten, pretty badly sometimes. I was only a child at the time, and it wasn’t until I was older that I escaped and joined the Krillux.”
“What made you join them?” I ask.
“The promise of food and money, a chance to get out of the mines” he says. “I secretly hoped I’d make it back here one day, and I have; although, the circumstances are not what I imagined. I can only hope that the humans and the Krillux respect my people during this mission.”
“I’m sorry that happened to you,” I tell him, holding tighter onto his shoulder. “But you are very brave for everything that you’ve been through.”
“Thank you,” he says, looking out at Ventra in the distance. A beautiful rainbow-like glow surrounds it. Wisps of color swirl and dance in strange patterns around it.
“What is that?” I ask.
Raeden smiles, as if he were fondly remembering something.
“It’s an aurora,” he says. “The Ventran mineral creates a strange colorful field around the atmosphere sometimes. I used to sit outside my home and watch it from time to time. Each one is different than the last.”
“It’s very beautiful,” I say.
We watch the aurora for a while, and I can feel him relaxing under my arm. Finally, he takes a breath and turns to me, and my heart swells, waiting to hear what he’s going to say.
“Alex, thank you for the kindness that you’ve shown me, especially right now.”
Before I can even say ‘you’re welcome,’ he reaches over, brushing a strand of hair from my face. His hand stays there for a while, resting on my cheek. It feels like a window has opened up, releasing a floodgate of all these confusing emotions, leaving one thing clearly behind. I want to be with him. Right now.
I lean forward and kiss him softly, faintly. His mouth is warm and inviting, and he leans more into the kiss, and I’m relieved to see that he might have been holding his feelings back, too. But something pulls him back.
“Is this wrong?” he asks me. I almost want to laugh.
“What’s wrong about it?” I ask.
“Krillux are forbidden to mingle with members of a contract,” he says.
I shrug at him with a sly smile. “I don’t mind breaking the rules once in a while,” I tell him as I kiss him again.
He gives a soft moan, accepting our new fate, and I feel a wave of want wash over me. I just have to have more of him right there and then. I grab onto his face, pulling him closer towards me, our
breath heavy, as our kisses grow more passionate. He takes a risk and bites my lip with his pointed teeth, which is incredibly sexy, and just as kinky as I imagined. Now I really want to show him what I’ve been holding back. I grab onto him, pulling myself onto his lap, my legs wrapping around his waist. He instinctively grabs my hips, in between his firm hands pulling me closer into him into a gentle grind.
“I’ve never done this before,” he whispers, and just these words alone are enough to make me wet.
“Let me help you out, then,” I tell him, grabbing for his tunic and lifting it over his head. I’ve never seen his muscles this closely before. He’s absolutely jacked, though you could never tell under all the layers he wears. I want to touch every inch of him.
He undoes the buttons on my shirt, one at a time, his breath quickening as I bend down to kiss his neck, biting it softly, and feeling his veins pulsing under my teeth. His tender hands slide under my bra, gently cupping my breasts. He rubs his thumbs so softly over my nipples in delicate circles, and I’ve suddenly overcome with pleasure. I can’t take it anymore, pulling off my shirt and finally unhooking my bra, revealing myself to him. He takes it all in, grabbing my tits more firmly as he delicately places one of them in his mouth and sucks on it gently. His eyes look up at me, the beautiful yellow glow of them almost bright enough to light up the room.
“I want you,” I tell him.
“I’ve been dying to say the same,” he breathes, finally unbuttoning my pants.
His hand slips past the waistband of my panties, searching for the warm, wet lips of my vulva. His fingers slide in between them, back and forth as he plays with me, rubbing his thumb tenderly against my bundle of nerves. I’m practically soaked through, the wetness pouring over his fingers as he inserts them further inside. I let out a soft cry as he inches them tighter and tighter, exploring in between my legs. If he’s that good with his hands, I want to see what else he’s good at.
I move him off of me, gently pressing his back towards the floor as I take off his pants. I almost want to shout out in surprise at how big he is. The bulge of his cock almost bursts out from a scrap of fabric. It’s dark green, like the rest of him, but I don’t mind one bit.
Saving Ventra: Alien Romance (Lovers of Ventra Series) Page 4
