Ice

by Michelle M. Pillow

  I trust Edur to suggest the most reputable.

  Ice trusted his little brother to be thinking with the wrong set of brains. No… Little head? Was that the Earth saying? Thinking with a little head? That made no sense. Did Earth males have two heads?

  Damn those uploads. They were distracting him as they dispersed themselves into his brain. Now was not the time to think of humanoid anatomy.

  Another blast sounded. So much for Earth being a welcoming place to meet women.

  Ice glanced up to see his brothers disappearing into the nearby trees. They had not realized he’d stayed behind to distract the alien enemy. Five attackers had come into the small clearing, cloaked in black and hiding in the shadows, as if they’d known where the spacecraft would land.

  The strange coloring of his hands in moonlight caused him to do a double take. He would never get used to seeing the dark human-like flesh in place of his blue. Whatever pills they had given them to blend in were working. The fact they had to hide their identities probably should have been their first clue that Galaxy Brides might not have the permission to land that they’d claimed.

  Ice rolled onto his back, ready to battle the Earthlings who attacked. A blaster hovered near his face and he jerked to the side, sweeping his arm up to knock the weapon away.

  A low gasp sounded, but he could not see the person’s face as a mask covered all but dark brown eyes. Those eyes kept him from striking a second time, more than restraints ever could. Had the Galaxy Bride people done something to him, something to stop him from harming an Earthling?

  Logic told him to punch. Instead, he merely blocked the downward reach and rolled to the side.

  The loud clank and slide of metal announced the closing of the Galaxy Brides’ ship. They were leaving them here, unaided, with the attackers. Either the bridal corporation was incompetent, or this was a setup.

  I trust Frost to suggest the most reputable.

  “They went into the woods,” a man yelled, running after Frost and Snow. “Spread out. Find them. Don’t let them get away.”

  The brown-eyed Earthling recovered from Ice’s defensive move and tried to grab him. Ice pushed to his feet and seized the attacker’s arm. He should have been able to stop the assault, but the creature was too nimble, and he was unable to stop the alien physically.

  Curses on Galaxy Brides.

  Ice tried to defend himself and push the alien away, without doing harm. However, when another human came at him, evidently thinking he didn’t know how to spar, Ice had no problem launching that one into the air. He grabbed hold of a thigh and used the momentum of the man’s attack to heave him on toward the others. The flailing human made contact with the backs of two of his brothers’ pursuers and all three tumbled onto the ground. At their cries, the fifth gave up his pursuit and returned to fight Ice.

  The momentary relief he felt at knowing his brothers were safe for the time being was short lived as he realized he was now alone on this strange orb. The sound of thrusters drawing power in preparation of a launch drowned out the human shouts. If that ship finished takeoff, they would be trapped on Earth with no way to get home.

  This was a nightmare.

  “Hey!” Ice yelled. He picked up a rock and hurled it at the ship, hoping to set off the sensors. He grabbed another, and then another, causing them to reverberate off the metal side.

  Maybe they didn’t realize.

  Maybe they didn’t know.

  Maybe they had set the brothers up.

  Curses on Galaxy Brides!

  Four of the attackers were coming back for him. The fifth lay on the ground.

  Ice picked up another rock, this time chucking it at the nearest figure. The stone hit its target in the shoulder, knocking the Earthling onto his back. The human made a strange noise. He did it again, this time striking a covered face. Before Ice could pick another rock, the two remaining humans charged, hands swinging. Curled fingers balled into complete fists. It was a strange way to fight.

  As he lifted his outstretched hand to shove the heel of his palm into a face, he saw those brown eyes…and hesitated. Instead, he went for the other target. He landed a blow on a hard chest. The alien creature made an odd choking noise as he fell back.

  He should have been able to take the last attacker. He’d fought bearguars bigger than this human, but as he watched it pull the mask off its head, he realized the attacker was a woman.

  She took a deep breath but did not run.

  Ice stared at her mouth, waiting for her to speak. She circled him, her arms raised.

  “Guuuurgh-gurg,” he said.

  She stopped moving, her eyes widening by small degrees.

  Ice frowned. Stupid Venimice uploads!

  Before he could lift his arms, the woman had hold of them and was flipping him into the air. He flailed, landing on his back on the hard ground. The breath was knocked from his lungs, followed by an electric shock that reverberated through his body.

  “Gurgha,” he mumbled, seconds before passing out.

  Chapter Three

  Elle tapped her fingers against the reinforced glass observation window that overlooked the room in which they kept the alien male. Her forehead pressed against it as she watched him. Ice-blue eyes met hers, but he didn’t move. In fact, he hadn’t moved in three weeks. Not really. The striking color caused her to shiver. It’s what had made her hesitate in her first attempt to stop him. She had wanted to be the one to take him down. The others would not have been so gentle. Even now her co-workers hunted the other two.

  Though she would never say it out loud, she hoped they didn’t find them.

  There were times she hated her job. This was one of them.

  The alien wore the white tunic and scrub pants of the facility. Whatever he’d taken to blend in was beginning to wear off and with each passing day, his skin turned from a darker brown to blue with patches that formed a tribal pattern on his arm. If she hadn’t seen it for herself, she wouldn’t have believed it.

  Secret alien facility with an actual secret alien prisoner.

  She was an alien mercenary. Her unofficial job title was actually a real thing. Go figure.

  When she’d signed on for the job, she’d honestly thought it would be an easy paycheck from an eccentric, rich asshole who would send them on wild goose chases. She never thought they would catch something.

  Correction, someone. These were living humanoid creatures. They were not things. They were people…kind of.

  If she had known, Elle would never have agreed to this.

  She moved along the glass, watching as his eyes followed her. At least there were still signs of life in those depths. She wished she could say something, communicate, find a way to judge his thoughts and his intent. Did he mean them harm? Was he seeking asylum? Why did his ship leave without him?

  She wanted to tell him she was sorry.

  Elle glanced along the white hall, listening for others. There was no one. The cameras were pointed inward at the alien, and they could not see where she stood along the edge of the glass. She placed her hand against the barrier, spreading her fingers as she gazed into his eyes. Alien facial expressions could not be expected to mimic human ones. His smiles might not mean happy. His frowns might mean joy. His black hair might be sensitive to the touch like tiny tentacles. He could have four separate hearts located in his limbs.

  Well, okay, she knew that he had two hearts, the main organ and what looked to be an accessory organ located in the general vicinity of his chest. The scientists had scanned him while he was passed out upon intake and Elle had sneaked a look at the data.

  Her eyes traveled lower to his stomach. The scans had not shown everything. He’d started to wake up, and they’d moved him into containment. There was no telling how human this alien really was.

  Okay, seriously, am I mentally undressing the extraterrestrial?

  The thought was supposed to be self-scolding, but it had the opposite effect. It made her more curious to see what
he looked like naked. She had not been there when they’d changed him, and she couldn’t exactly ask Dr. Hanklen if the large alien came fully intact. With her luck, they’d get the idea to test out the full extent of his compatibilities with one of the two females in the facility—the rage-filled Dr. Petals or Elle. She doubted they’d send Dr. Petals in to seduce him. The woman had a permanent expression like she’d just ate a sour pickle.

  As much as she mentally condemned herself, her body had a completely different reaction. It was interested in playing out this line of fantasy. What would happen if they threw her into the prison with him, vulnerable except for her own strength? Or tied her down so she couldn’t fight Mr. Blue’s advances? Would his looks be lusty? Would they be curious?

  Her eyes went to his blue hands. They were large, five-fingered, but with dark nails. How would they look against her skin?

  Elle’s breathing deepened, and she became acutely aware of her breasts as she leaned into the glass. She had seen his strength as he threw Larson like he didn’t weight nearly two hundred pounds. She needed to get out of the facility. It was clear she’d been cooped up too long if she was fantasizing about the alien.

  There was something unexplained about him that called to her. Maybe it was his eyes, the soulful dark gaze that seemed so lost and sad. She knew what it was like to feel alone. Her adoptive parents had been awesome. They loved her and gave her a good home, but she wasn’t like them. There was still a part of her that wondered what life would have been like if her birth parents lived.

  Her father was a hardworking man. Her mother was a homemaker who liked hosting dinner parties and fundraisers. Elle had another kind of drive. As an angsty teenager she’d found boxing, of all things. Somehow punching released all the pent-up emotions she carried inside. Then she found kickboxing. Then martial arts. Then survivalist training, which is what her somewhat boyfriend at the time called preparing for the end of times. She had thought it was Jimmy’s ridiculous conspiracy theory hobby until he bought her a fake ID package for her birthday—well, her “new” birthday—complete with a birth certificate, social security card, and licenses. After that, she tried to avoid him and he technically broke up with her when he found a woman with a bug out shelter and apocalypse supplies. He’d been very sorry.

  Then the Milano Foundation found her, and for some reason, she found herself telling them her name was Ellen Sharp, instead of her real name Elenore Rollins. Strangely, under both her real and fake identifications, everyone shortened her name to Elle. Except for some of the mercenaries she worked with. They called her Sharp. She had to give it to Jimmy. Whoever made the fake ID was good. It stood up to scrutiny.

  Only, what amused her at first ended up isolating her. No one she worked with knew about the real her. They thought she was Ellen, a woman with no family, the perfect employee because she had no ties to distract her. In many ways, she felt like an alien among the others in the facility.

  Her eyes again strayed down the alien’s body.

  She took a deep breath.

  Fuck. She needed to get out of this stupid facility. Cabin fever was driving her to insanity.

  Just as she was about to pull away and hide in her quarters, the alien moved.

  She gasped, holding her breath as he stood. She glanced around, wondering if anyone was at the monitors to see what was happening. She kept her hand on the glass, not moving as she watched him step toward her.

  His movements were slow, and her lungs began to burn as she waited to see what he would do. She forced herself to breathe. Those piercing eyes held hers and she couldn’t look away, couldn’t yell for help…not that she would.

  “Hi,” she tried to speak, but her lips barely moved and no sound came out.

  He stopped before her, towering over her five-foot-five height.

  The glass had become warm from the heat of her hand. The alien tilted his head slightly forward. The backs of his fingers swept up against the glass and rested near where her breasts had been. She found herself mesmerized, leaning forward, wondering what he would do.

  Could he read her thoughts? Had he known what she’d been thinking about?

  The idea should have caused embarrassment, but instead she found her body reacting favorably.

  She wanted him. For as wrong, crazy, and ill-advised as that realization was, she wanted him.

  Elle pressed harder against the glass, squishing her breasts in her need to be closer to him. She wanted to see what he would do. She wanted to know if he wanted her. Would they even be compatible? She wanted to find out.

  “Do something,” she whispered, her lips barely moving.

  The backs of his fingers rested next to her right nipple—so close and yet she couldn’t feel the touch.

  Her eyes dipped to his mouth. Would he even know what a kiss was?

  A loud bang sent vibrations over the glass as the alien struck the barrier. It was hard enough that it reverberated through her chest.

  She jumped back.

  He hit the glass again as if testing it.

  Elle glanced over the empty hall and lifted her hands, gesturing that he should be quiet. “You don’t want to do that.”

  He stuck the glass harder, leading with the heel of his hand.

  “It’s reinforced bulletproof—”

  He hit so hard that a crack spider-webbed out from his hand.

  Elle pressed her back against the hallway wall opposite the window. “Please, stop!”

  He shouted something at her, the muffled words barely coming through the glass. What she could hear were strange gurgling noises.

  “Shh.” She motioned her hands frantically, willing him to quiet down.

  The sound of running footsteps echoed down the hall. The others were coming. It was too late.

  Larson appeared seconds before Dr. Hanklen and a couple of lab techs she didn’t know the names of. Larson was a big, hulking brute of a man who didn’t say much. It was a quality Elle appreciated in him.

  In contrast, Hanklen wouldn’t stop talking. No one ever did anything right, everyone else was always wrong, and he was the smartest man in the room…just ask him, he’d tell you. He was probably the reason Dr. Petals was angry all the time. Elle avoided the man whenever she could.

  “What’s happening? What did you do, Sharp?” Hanklen demanded of Elle before shoving her out of the way. She stumbled but resisted the urge to shove back even if she could take the scientist easily in a physical fight.

  The alien hit the glass harder, trying to expand the crack he’d made.

  “Larson, get the subject restrained.”

  “Fuck, he’s strong,” Larson observed.

  “Now!” Hanklen ordered. “Do what you have to, but I want him alive.”

  Larson rushed down the hall, turning the corner that would lead to the only door into the cell.

  Elle tried to go after him, but Hanklen lifted his hand with a glare of warning.

  “I can help. I didn’t do anything,” Elle said. She wanted to make sure they didn’t hurt the captured man. “You need everyone—”

  “Stay where you are, or I will have you escorted off the premises,” Hanklen warned.

  Elle began to move anyway. It wasn’t in her nature to stand by.

  Hanklen grabbed her arm. She swung around, her fist balling before she had the presence of mind to stop herself. If she punched the cagey doctor that would be assault. And he was just the kind of asshole who would find a way to press charges…or, come to think of it, he’d lock her up in the cell next to their blue prisoner. This facility tended to police itself, and he wouldn’t want anyone getting word of what they did here.

  Oh, but she wanted to hit the smug little man.

  “Look!” A strange smile worked its way onto the doctor’s face.

  Elle turned to the alien. He was staring at them.

  Hanklen kept hold of her arm, dragging her a few feet down the hall. “Look at his eyes. He’s watching you. I think he likes you.”

&nb
sp; “You’re delusional,” Elle dismissed. The fantasy that had played out in her head was all too recent. That didn’t mean the doctor wouldn’t get some kind of idea. It’s not like they were under the burden of government regulations. “He was slamming at the glass to get to me. He probably wants me dead. I did capture him, after all.”

  The disappointment on the doctor’s face was palpable.

  Larson pushed through the door to the cell, leading a group of amped-up men behind him.

  Panic filled her, and it took all her energy to maintain her composure. She knew what was coming. There was no way the prisoner would win this fight.

  And the fact he was here was her fault. She was the one who’d brought him to the facility. What happened next would be on her.

  The alien’s eyes met hers, and she did the only thing she could.

  She mouthed, “I’m sorry.”

  “Excellent,” Hanklen whispered, more to himself than her. “We can observe how the creature fights.” His smile worried Elle.

  Chapter Four

  Why was the pretty Earth human taunting him?

  Every day, she came to look at him, staring at him with those brown eyes that mesmerized him into losing the fight against her. She was the reason he was caught in this trap. And she came, every damned day, to look in on him like he was a pet.

  Oh, but today had been different. Today, she had looked at him with narrowed eyes and flushed skin. His Galaxy Brides uploads had finally unpacked themselves into his brain, and he knew what seduction meant, knew what deepened breath, pinked cheeks, and pursed lips were an invitation to. Which could only mean she mocked him.

  But, fuck, he wanted her. When she pressed her chest to the glass, he wanted to explore these things Earthlings called breasts. Sintazians didn’t have soft globes like that. Their women were hard and muscled. This woman, though she would hold her own against any creature in battle, had softer edges. Curves even.

  She made his body vibrate.

  Many emotions flooded him as he spent time in the cell. What did they want with him? He’d heard about alien experimentation done by some species. Galaxy Brides had assured them Earth people were not like that.