Alien Romance: Alien Heart (Scifi Paranormal Alien Abduction Invasion Cyborg Romance) (New Adult Mystery Adventure Shifter Warrior Short Stories) (68 page)

Chapter 6

Isabella and I had agreed to meet at a restaurant in ‘SoHo’ as she called it. The space was quiet and intimate. I had secured a table for us on the second level balcony that looked out over the main floor dining room. Isabella was shown back to the table when she arrived. She was wearing a black dress that fell just above her knees and covered her neck, though it was sleeveless. It outlined her figure provocatively and I very much wanted to see her body without the clothing.

“Hello,” I stood as she reached the table and she smiled at me then briefly placed her hand on my arm to lean in and kiss my cheek in greeting.

“Hi. You picked a good table,” she said and then sat down across from me. I sat down as the server came by with menus and water.

“I figured this upper level provided more privacy than down there,” I said and she looked at me with a curious tilt of her head.

“Where are you from? You speak as if you aren’t from around here,” she observed. I glanced down at the menu briefly, wondering if I should tell her who I truly was or not. 

“Well…I am not from here, no,” I began, but the server had returned, annoyingly enough, asking if we had settled on anything we’d like to order yet. Isabella spoke to him politely and the server left us finally.

“Where
are
you from? Europe somewhere?” she asked me. I shook my head.

“No, some place much farther,” I said cautiously. She seemed very much interested by that point.

“What have your sciences taught you about the galaxy?” I asked and her eyebrows furrowed in bemusement.

“Ah…well. There’s planets and stars out there…constellations, other solar systems, that sort of thing. I’m not a big astronomy buff,” she said with a nervous chuckle.

“Yes…other solar systems and planets,” I echoed.

“Are you trying to tell me that you’re from outer space?” she asked in a joking manner and I held her gaze, though I felt extremely cautious. I did not want her to think of me as a mad man.

“Outer space would refer to outside of the galaxy…but essentially I am trying to tell you that I am not from Earth, no.”

“I’m sorry, come again?” she said.

“You
know
that there is a very high likelihood of there being other life in the galaxy, and universe for that matter, yes?” I tried to appeal to her logic.

“I mean…yes, it’s hard to say that Earth is the only habited planet out there. But I’ve never met someone who’s from a different planet before. So you see, where I would find what you’re saying a little bit impossible,” she said. I was surprised that she appeared to be entertaining what I was trying to convey to her. The humans I had come into contact with thus far had seemed close-minded.

“You would need more proof then?” I asked and she nodded.

“Exactly, otherwise…you’re just a gorgeous crazy man,” she chuckled. I stood up. Her eyes widened when I extended my hand towards her. “Wait, you want to give me proof
now
?” she asked. I saw her rate of breathing increase, though I couldn’t quite tell if it was from fear or excitement.

“Yes, if you would trust me. I assure you, I will not harm you in any way,” I promised her and she studied me for a moment before she stood up from the table and put her hand in mine. A sort of current passed through her palm into mine and I felt connected to her by more than just the small physical touch.

“Where are you from?” she asked me again, wanting to know the full truth.

“A planet called Avant. It is in a solar system near this one,” I said, and she considered that while we walked from the restaurant.

“Why are you here? On Earth?” she asked me. I glanced down at her briefly.

“Just visiting, experiencing Earth for myself. Like studying abroad,” I said.

“Studying abroad? Okay.” When we reached the street outside, I led her to a secluded alley and pulled out my transporter device. Her eyes widened when she saw the small black device. It resembled nothing like you would find on Earth, though it was the size of one of those cellular devices so many humans spoke into.

“What’s
that
?” she asked me. I handed it to her so she could study it. It was oval in shape and thin, there were two divots; one on each smooth surface. The divots were meant to press the device between two fingers after whispering the coordinates into it.

“It is like a teleportation device. I wish to show you the ship my guards and I arrived on, if that is okay?” I asked. Her wide eyes met mine.

“This is…this
can’t
be real.” she whispered, and I nodded.

“It is Isabella, let me show you…please,” I said, and she nodded once.

I slowly took the device from her hands, whispered the coordinates of the ship and took Isabella’s hand without taking my gaze from hers. I pressed the device between my fingers and a ball of light enveloped us, quickly melting the alley away until the interior of the ship became visible around us. Isabella gasped when the transporting process was over. She looked around in awe.

“Oh my god! This is either the world’s most elaborate kidnapping attempt, or this is
real.
” she breathed.

Chapter 7

Isabella

I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. We were inside a…a
ship
. Not the kind that sailed on the sea either. But the kind you’d see in sci-fi movies like
Star Trek
or something.

“Take me there…I want to see it,” the words blurted from my mouth before I could even think about them rationally. Roderick’s eyes widened in surprise, but I saw that he was pleased too.

“You want to see Avant?” he asked and I nodded.

“Yes, then I’ll believe you completely,” I said and he smiled.

“Of course, let me just get the men up and we can get going,” he said and then left me in the passenger lobby. A few other men just as big and tall as Roderick appeared from a hidden door at the back of the lobby and stared at me.

“So, this is her, Prince Roderick?” one of them asked and my eyes widened.

“You’re a
prince
?” I asked and Roderick directed me to a seat and strapped me in. “Wait. Can you tell me if I will be able to…
breathe
on Avant?” I asked him and he chuckled.

“If I am able to survive on Earth, you will be able to survive on Avant, rest assured,” he said. Once I was strapped in, all the others took their seats and the ship started to move on its own. No one seemed to be driving it! All I could do was watch everything with wide eyes. I couldn’t
believe
this, yet it was happening.

I stared out the large window, and watched as we rose form some wooded area and shot through the sky. It felt as if the ship was gliding, while the sky was whipping by us. Soon we were in the dark expanse of
space.
Stars all around us and I had the clearest view of the moon. I felt the ship charge up and then it was zipping through space faster than I could fathom. Light tunneled around us and then as suddenly as it began, the light show ended and we slowed.

There was a large planet directly in front of us and we were heading towards it. It was dark on the side of the planet we entered and all I could think was that the clouds looked like normal clouds…even if there were two moons in the sky. The clouds seemed normal.

“This is Avant,” Roderick said, as we traveled through a city as bright as New York, or Paris maybe.

“And where on Avant are we going?” I asked him. He pointed to a spot I couldn’t quite make out yet due to our altitude.

“There, the royal palace. It is where I live,” Roderick said. My eyebrows shot up in more shock than I already was in.

“So you
are
a prince? Of what?” I asked. One of the guys with Roderick snorted.

“Of Avant,” he replied, as if I should have known.

“Of Avant, the entire
planet
?” I asked, and Roderick nodded once.

“Yes…I wish to speak to you on a matter…regarding that,” Roderick said. As the ship landed smoothly. I glanced out the window and saw that we were in a hangar, of sorts.

Roderick unfastened his belt and leaned over to unfasten me from my seat. He stood and held out his arm, such a gentleman. I stood and slid my arm around his, and my hand gripped his bicep. His very firm and tone bicep that contracted as I squeezed it. Then a ball of light enveloped us again and before I could blink, we were in a huge, ornate room. And there was a throne. Two thrones encrusted with jewels.
Are those real thrones?

“I went to Earth to find a wife Isabella…so that I could take the throne and succeed my father as king of Avant,” Roderick said abruptly. My eyes popped open and I stared at him, in awe.

“You want
me
to be your
wife
?” I choked out the words. Roderick looked at me, almost worriedly.

“Yes…will you?” he asked hopefully.

“Why should I?” I asked and he shrugged.

“Because, I believe I could make you happy as my wife and I also believe that you would come to like it here on Avant. You are
here,
aren’t you? Of your own will?” he asked me and I had to admit that he had a point. I wouldn’t have so boldly told him to bring me to Avant if I weren’t restless with my own life back on Earth…but restlessness passed, didn’t it? I couldn’t actually tie myself to a completely new life on a new
planet
for Pete’s sake.

“You can’t become king any other way?” I asked him and he shook his head. “So, how about I help you become king and then I can go back to Earth?” I asked and he shook his head again.

“Would it be so terrible being married to me?” he asked softly, and I looked up into his golden eyes and became a little hypnotized, like when we first met. There was definitely something between us and I couldn’t deny that fact. I knew I’d always be wondering ‘what if’ if I told Roderick to take me back to Earth in that moment.

“Okay…okay I’ll marry you,” I whispered.

A look of pure happiness and relief crossed Roderick’s features as he looked up and began calling orders to people I hadn’t even realized were around. Everything was pulled together in a blur and all I realized was that in one moment I was standing in the middle of the throne room while Roderick called things to order and the next I was standing across from him in front of the raised dais where the throne sat. There was a man in a long white robe standing in front of us and he was smiling at me.

I couldn’t believe it. I had met an alien, travelled to his planet, found out he was in line to rule the entire planet, and was now marrying him all in under twenty-four hours. I was about to be the
wife
of an alien king…that was definitely going to take some getting used to.

Chapter 8

After we were married, in what was a very private and small ceremony, Roderick was crowned and all the shock of the evening had invaded my nerves. I was shown to the ‘royal chambers’ so I could sleep. Come morning, Roderick brought me to a huge closet just down a small corridor in the room that also had a door leading into the bathroom of sorts which I used and bathed in a huge Jacuzzi tub because there wasn’t any shower.

While in the closet, there were two girls who looked to be about eighteen or so and they picked something out for me to wear. It was a beautiful off-white gown. The material was form fitting and it had sleeves, but there was no back. There was a thin gold chain across my back that held it together. When I asked them why they dressed me in a gown, the girls replied the dress was ceremonial for my crowning.

The girls put long golden earrings on my ears and a circlet around my arm that had some intricate filigree work surrounding a red ruby. After that they brushed out my hair and pinned it over my shoulder. I was then given flats that were comfortable and would be hidden by the length of the dress. I was ready for Roderick and to become his queen.

“You look beautiful. Like a true Avantian queen,” he said.

“Thank you, your Highness.” I smiled at his gasp. “Better get used to calling you that.”

“I ordered breakfast to be served on the west terrace. That way we can travel through much of the palace and dine with the backdrop of the ocean,” he said.

As soon as we left the huge bedroom, my eyes went everywhere they could possibly go. We went down a curving hallway which was half glass so I could see the full view of the cliff we were on and the strip of beach down below. Roderick started telling me about these quarters and those rooms and that hallway. I zoned him out and took in the grandness of it all. Once we left the hallway, we came to a circular room that was kind of like a living room. It had a piano facing the view of the ocean and there were large couches situated around a huge burning fireplace that I was sure you could fit three full-sized line-backers inside of.

Everything was marble, the floors, the pillars. The colors ranged from white to dark cream and everything seemed to be lined with gold. There was a staircase that led down to a grand foyer, Roderick pointed to a hallway to the left of the staircase and said it led to a kitchen and family dining room, to the right was a living room with a balcony. We walked through the double doors of the foyer, which was flanked by guards, and out onto a short catwalk. The air was bitingly chilly, though Roderick seemed like he hardly felt the weather. I was glad that the dress I wore was somewhat warm. He was wearing a sort of steampunk looking light grey vest that had a collar and buttoned up diagonally over a pair of regular looking dark blue pants. His impressive arms were bare though and my eyes lingered on his defined muscles while we walked over to the next wing of the palace.

The place was huge with a wing for the royal family that I didn’t even see all of, a wing for guests of the court and officials. There was also an entire wing of the palace dedicated to parties with two ballrooms, a huge dinner room and beautiful gardens meant for day parties. Then there were servant’s quarters near the industrial-sized kitchen. Roderick said there were also training grounds and stables for horses. By the time we got to the terrace, which was kind of hidden behind the throne room and formal library, which housed Roderick’s study, I was speechless.

“How do you like it all?” Roderick asked me. He actually pulled out my seat for me like a gentleman, and sat across from me.

“Well it’s certainly something. It’s impressive,” I said. My eyes kept drifting to the ocean just past Roderick’s head and he glanced behind him to see what I was staring at.

“Do you think this can be your new home?” he asked me. I was surprised he asked at all. It wasn’t like I could change anything and go back to Earth.

“It’s just different than what I’m used to. Back home I had a simple life…at least you have horses,” I said. He smiled. “Well, I thought since this was an alien planet, the animals here would be different from on Earth,” I explained. Roderick’s expression cleared up in understanding.

“They are. But the differences are subtle, like the people here. Yes, we are taller than humans on average and the males are more…built than those on Earth. Our skin is thicker against the weather and our race has evolved to a certain degree that allows us, some of us, to carry certain mental abilities that humans would consider as supernatural…. But for the most part, Avantians and humans stem from the same genome, if we had lived on Earth then we would have evolved at a slower rate like your kind. Different planet, different solar system, calls for differing results,” he explained and then gestured to the food on the table in front of us. “You should eat.”

“I don’t know if I’m hungry,” I said. He lowered his fork as he was taking something that looked like a thin pancake to put on his plate.

“Isabella you have been asleep for two full days and you haven’t eaten since you got to Avant, you need to keep your strength,” he said, with an edge to his voice.

“This is all real. Nothing is changing?” I asked him and he nodded, his eyes locked onto mine. I knew he was completely serious without having to say anything.

“You are my wife and Queen of Avant,” he said and smiled. I took a long drink of water before putting some bread and fruit on my plate.