Alien Attraction

by Cara Bristol

  “Doing what?”

  “The Terra-Dakon Goodwill Exchange Program.”

  “What!”

  “Now that Devon is healthy, there’s nothing keeping me here. Why not go to Dakon and settle down with a nice alien? Men here aren’t interested in marriage and commitment.” She bit her lip. “Would the aliens accept Devon?”

  “I’m almost certain they would. They love children. But can he travel? Is he healthy enough yet?”

  “He will be. And his doctor has applied to the program! We got to talking, and when I heard she was considering it, that pretty much tipped the scales for me.”

  “It sounds like you’ve made your decision. When are you going to apply?”

  “I, um, did already. I submitted the background check and interview forms. Since I have a relative in the program, my application will be fast-tracked. Devon and I might be in the next group.” She held up crossed fingers.

  I fell back in my chair. “I don’t know what to say…”

  “Say you’ll stay. Even if it doesn’t work out for me to come to Dakon, you should stay. You can’t give up love!”

  My entire focus had been to provide for Devon and get back home to him and my sister. If they were coming here…I could stay with Darq. I could have my sister, nephew, and my alien mate. I could have my macha and eat it, too!

  Hopefully. If I stayed, and Stormy didn’t get accepted, besides my family, I’d be giving up my home. I’d never see Earth again. I’d be trading a technologically cushy life in sunny New Los Angeles for a subsistence existence on a planet stuck in an ice age where they had one computer for the entire population.

  But I’d have Darq.

  My sexy, “horny” alien mate who cared about me outweighed any negatives. Snuggled up with him under our kels, climate ceased to be an issue. I’d miss my family if it ended up they couldn’t come, but I would miss Darq more if I left. Devon’s health superseded all else, but now that his heart no longer posed a concern, the scale tipped to the other side. To Darq.

  I’d been thinking I had to leave—but I didn’t. I could stay.

  I would stay. Hopefully, Stormy and Devon could join me, but if not…well, I’d deal with that issue later.

  Screw Apogee. The producers didn’t know it yet, but I was off the show. Their trained monkey had performed her last trick. Today was the first day of the rest of my life.

  “Uh oh. I know that smile. You’re plotting,” Stormy said.

  “Insect hunting season is officially open.”

  “What?”

  “I’m quitting the show, effective immediately. I’m staying here. If you come, when you come, bring chocolate.”

  Stormy frowned. “I don’t know what you mean about insects, but I’ll bring chocolate.”

  There would be kissing in the kels tonight! I felt almost giddy with happiness and could hardly wait to meet Darq in the tavern. We could have an official mating toast to start our new, honest life to together. No secrets, no lies.

  “How long before Devon gets home?” I peered at the icons on the computer screen. Andrea had explained the navigation before she’d left.

  “Twenty minutes, maybe.”

  “Let me get back to you, then. I need to call Chantelle, to discuss a few things with her.”

  “Okay. Devon will be so excited to see his auntie.”

  We disconnected, and I tapped in Chantelle’s coordinates. She appeared on the screen almost immediately. “Sunny! My stars! It’s so good to see you. How are you?”

  “Why didn’t you tell me Apogee intended to keep me on Dakon for an entire year as leverage to get me to re-up,” I fumed.

  “You’re the number-one talked-about celebrity. You’re trending all over the ’net. I’m not kidding—every damn woman in the world is watching Sunny Weathers’ Excellent Adventures. We have Apogee over a barrel. With the money you’re making them, they’ll do anything to keep you. You’re on your way, now, baby.”

  Well, that put a different spin on it. That certainly wasn’t the way Apogee had presented the situation. I didn’t trust Chantelle, but I trusted Apogee even less. Of course the producers would try to hide the relevant facts to get me to sign on the cheap. That’s how they operated. Still, it was apparent Chantelle and Apogee both were using me to benefit themselves. I had been caught in a tug of war. Well, I was going to cut the rope.

  “The show started with you preparing for Dakon—rejecting the idea then agreeing to it. Boarding the shuttle. Some scenes from your life on the ship. When you landed and met Mr. Tall, Darq, and Dreamy—the ratings went through the moon. For a planet stuck in an ice age, the men are hot. You’ve even impacted the economy.”

  That got my attention. “I have? How?”

  “So many women watch the show, advertising rates have skyrocketed. You’ve sold more Doritos than the Super Bowl. The chairman and directors of Apogee Productions have made the Fortune 500 list of the richest people in the world.”

  And they kept threatening to revoke my salary and bonus.

  Chantelle’s face wreathed into one huge smile, and she rubbed her hands together. “Girl, when your contract comes up for renewal, I am going to get you some big money. Big.”

  “I’m not going to renew the contract.”

  Her smile caved. “What? Why?”

  “I’m staying with Darq on Dakon.”

  The grin was back. “That’s perfect! That’s a win-win for everybody. You keep your alien honey and collect big bucks.”

  “I’m tired of cameras following me around. I want a normal life, and money is worthless here. There’s nothing to spend it on.” If I wanted a new kel coat, Darq would hunt me one or make an exchange at the trading post. A few months ago, money meant everything to me, but now it was just numbers in an account.

  If Apogee was raking in gobs of cash, we probably did have leverage to get a more lucrative contract. But…no go. I was done with reality shows.

  Business was business, and love was love.

  Love?

  My heart skipped a beat. Was that what I was feeling?

  Chantelle drummed her dagger-like scarlet fingernails on the desk. “You’re Apogee’s golden goose, right now. You’re earning more money for them than all their other shows combined. They will not let you go; they’ll fight you.”

  “What can they do? Sue me? Garnish the wages they’re withholding? I’m millions of miles away on an alien planet. They can’t touch me.” I had the power, now! For the first time in years, I controlled my own destiny, and dammit, it felt good. From now on, I would select my own adventures.

  Life couldn’t get any better.

  “Think about it. Don’t be hasty.”

  Hasty? My decision had been a long time coming. I’d been taken advantage of far too long. I didn’t need to mull it over. Apogee considered me their golden goose, and my agent had counted on getting some free eggs. This bird was flying the coop! Chantelle would need time to realize I wasn’t going to cave like I had in the past.

  “I’m not going to change my mind,” I said. “So don’t make any promises to Apogee you won’t be able to keep. I’d better go now.”

  She looked unhappy as I signed off.

  Outside, the wind had begun to howl. It sounded nasty out there. I checked the time. Devon wouldn’t be home for another ten minutes; I couldn’t leave without seeing him. With a little time to kill, I logged onto Sunny Weathers’ Excellent Adventures.

  I fast-forwarded through the pre-travel part of the show to the episode where I landed on the planet.

  No wonder women were clamoring to sign up for the exchange program. The cambots had been busy bees. Sure there were Dakonians tromping around in kel coats, but those shots were outnumbered by footage of muscled chests, flexing biceps, washboard abs, and horns—and of men tending to their female partners, cooking, holding hands, and, as Darq called it, “mouth-meshing.” Apogee had hyped the romance. I was attracted to Darq and c
ould tell he liked me, too, but with selective, strategic editing of the footage and bold frankenbiting voiceovers, it appeared as though we’d had fallen head over heels at first sight and proceeded to consummate our love.

  Our kisses under the kel had been heated, but the show made it look like more.

  However, Stormy had been right about how we made goo-goo eyes when we thought we were unobserved. My expressions of desire and longing shocked me; I thought I’d been better at hiding my emotions.

  And the sizzling way Darq looked at me could turn Dakon tropical. Seeing it now caused my panties to melt. Yet, when we’d spoken to one another, we’d masked our feelings. What if we’d been more honest with each other? How much farther along would we be? I’d held him at arm’s length, but a lifetime could pass without encountering another man like him. I’d met Mr. Right and hadn’t known it! My happily ever after waited for me at the tavern.

  I logged out of the show and pinged Stormy. She answered right away. “He’s here!”

  Devon’s sweet little face appeared. “Auntie Sunny!” He waved.

  “Hey, handsome! How are you?” The improvement in his health was plain to see, his cheeks rosy instead of sallow, his eyes bright and not sunken and shadowed. His grin was just as wide. I blinked back tears of relief and happiness.

  “I’m a cyborg now!”

  “I heard! Are you super strong?”

  “I am!” He flexed his scrawny biceps. “I’m going to school now, and I’m in a play group, and—why are you crying, Auntie?”

  “Because I’m so happy you’re doing so well. I’ve missed you.”

  “I wish you were here with me.”

  Stormy was shaking her head, indicating she hadn’t told Devon of her decision. It wasn’t my place to tell him. “I would be, if I could be,” I said.

  A draft of frigid air swirled around me, and a camera zipped around my head. “I’m almost done, Andrea!” I called, not turning around.

  “I have to sign off, but I’ll call again, I promise. It won’t be much longer, and we’ll be together again. I love you, handsome. You’re my man.”

  A felt another shaft of cold air, and this time I checked behind me. The lodge was vacant. Just me and three cambots. They must have pushed through the flaps. A good time to go. Darq waited at the tavern.

  Chapter Twelve

  A short time ago

  Darq

  The insect keeping me company flew away, and moments later, the one person I wished to avoid pushed into the tavern.

  “Hello,” Andrea said.

  I bit off a curse and forced a smile. “Good afternoon.”

  “Sunny is talking to her sister. Mind if I join you?” She poured herself a half tankard of ale.

  “Not at all,” I lied. “Have a seat.” I’d chat long enough to be polite and then find an excuse to leave. “How’s Groman?” I inquired of her mate, the healer for their tribe.

  “He’s well, but busy,” she said. “A woman broke her ankle, another suffered from hypothermia. Plus all the usual injuries and illnesses.” She sipped her ale and made a face. Terrans found our libation bitter. “I wanted to talk to you.”

  I knocked back a gulp. “About what?”

  “I know you took Romando’s chit.”

  Play dumb—lie—confess. Options spun round and round in my head. Was this the moment I would lose Sunny? I couldn’t lose her, I couldn’t. I wouldn’t. I would do whatever it took to keep her. I drank, wiped foam from my lips, and bluffed. “If you check the record book, you’ll see my tribe had four draws.”

  “I did check the record book—it’s wrong. Your tribe had three draws.” She tapped her head. “I remember. Starr is my closest friend. If you’d been from a different clan, or if yours had had fifteen or sixteen draws, I might not have noticed. Being in Starr’s tribe and only three draws? Not hard to remember. You didn’t get a chit.” She spoke with such confidence, I knew continuing with the pretense would be pointless.

  My shoulders slumped. “I found it by the latrine. I didn’t know whose it was at the time.” I swallowed. “What are you going to do?”

  “Do you care for Sunny?”

  “She is everything to me.”

  “Does she care for you?”

  I recalled the heat of our mouth-meshing. Although she sometimes withdrew, she laughed and smiled. She touched me when we talked. She watched me, when she thought I wasn’t aware, but I noticed everything she did. “I think so.”

  Andrea lifted a shoulder. “Then, nothing.”

  I couldn’t believe it. She would keep my secret? “You’re not going to tell anyone?”

  “No. Dakon is in the middle of a crisis. You need females, you need them quick, and you must produce more offspring. Your lottery is ridiculous, but it’s not up to me to determine who gets a woman and who doesn’t. On Terra, we choose our own partners. Men and women find each other, and if it works, it works. If it doesn’t, it doesn’t. It’s imperfect, but natural.

  “The attraction and connection you have is important—not how you met. I’m not the chit police. Besides, you could say I’m more of a rule bender than a rule follower.” She laughed.

  “Thank you.”

  Her eyes narrowed. “However, if I find out you’re not doing right by her, not only will I reveal to Torg and Enoki what you did, I will personally kick your ass.” Though female and much smaller than me, Andrea knew how to fight, and she protected her friends. She’d overpowered an assassin sent to kill Starr.

  It wasn’t wise to get on her bad side, but I took umbrage at her words. “I would never mistreat Sunny.” I glowered. “I intend to make her very happy.” The idea I could be capable of abusing my mate was insulting. Taking care of her was an honor.

  “Good,” she said. “Then we have an understanding. Cheers!” She tapped her tankard to mine.

  Andrea had been my last concern. Well, except for Sunny herself. “How do you think she’ll react if I tell her the truth?” I asked.

  “I doubt she’ll care how you acquired the chit.”

  I felt like the luckiest man on Dakon, and I was eager to get back to my mate. I pushed back from the table. “Are you going back to the lodge?” I asked.

  “Yes, but first I need to visit the storage hut to inventory supplies so I can submit my next order to Terra.”

  “We could use more skimmers,” I volunteered. “Our camp only has two, and both were in use today. We walked.”

  “Vehicles are hard to get because they’re expensive and unusual and thus are subjected to closer scrutiny. I limit myself to a few at a time to avoid triggering an audit, but I’ll see what I can do.” She waved me off. “Since you’re on foot, you’d better get going. When I left the lodge, a storm was moving in fast.”

  The storm had arrived. I opened the tavern door to a dark, overcast sky and snow falling hard and fast. I took off across the field, but visibility plummeted before I got even halfway across. The wind threw snow from every direction. Typical weather: sudden, changeable, fierce.

  Sunny and I would have to hunker down until the storm passed; we couldn’t travel in this. The insect from the tavern joined two others to fly lopsided circles outside the lodge. As I pushed through the heavy flaps over the door, they zipped inside.

  The fire had kept the lodge cozy and warm. My mate had shed her outer kel and sat with her back to me, blocking my view of the computer screen. “I’m almost done, Andrea!” she called.

  I started to announce myself, but she spoke to the computer. “I have to sign off, but I’ll call again, I promise,” she said in a soft, tender, affectionate tone I’d never heard her use. “It won’t be much longer, and we’ll be together again. I love you, Handsome. You’re my man.”

  For a moment, I gaped, in denial over what my ears were hearing.

  I love you, Handsome.

  You’re my man.

  It won’t be much longer, and we’ll be together again.

&n
bsp; Then her words and tone pierced through disbelief like an icicle through the heart. My hopes, my dreams shattered. If she had a mate—to whom she planned to return—then we were not mates.

  No wonder she had been so eager to come to the meeting place. She had desired to talk to him, to see him! Her man. Handsome. The hurt was so great, I almost hated her.

  I charged out of the lodge into a full-on blizzard. The storm had moved in exceedingly fast and fierce. Blinded by sleeting snow and my emotion, I almost plowed into Andrea.

  “What’s wrong? What happened?” She grabbed my arm and peered at me. I’m sure my emotions were expressed on my face. How could they not be? I felt betrayed.

  The wind whistled. I wanted to howl with it, shout out my pain and rage. “I-I can’t—I have to go—”

  “Go where? What about Sunny?” White flakes clung to Andrea’s lashes and brows, knit with concern.

  I could barely see the tavern.

  Leaving the meeting place in the middle of a blizzard wasn’t safe, and I couldn’t abandon Sunny no matter what she had done, but I couldn’t confront her yet. I had to pull myself together first. “You’d better go inside. Tell…tell…her to stay put. I’ll come get her…when I can.”

  “When will that be?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “Where are you going?”

  “Back to the tavern.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  Sunny

  Stormy and Devon’s images pixilated, and then the screen blanked out. I spun around as Andrea entered the lodge. “I did what I needed to do, but the ’net went out,” I said.

  “It’s the blizzard. We lose connection all the time. It’s snowing like a mother out there.” She tossed her hood back, sprinkling snow onto the floor. “What did you say to Darq?”

  “What do you mean? I haven’t seen him.”

  “It’s none of my business, but he left the tavern eager to see you and then came charging out of the lodge like he couldn’t get far enough away.”

  “He was here? I never saw him. I thought someone had entered, but I assumed—”