Alien Tryst (5 page)

“Fuck.” He buried his face in her hair, inhaling her unique
fragrance. His knees ached and his mind was as empty as his cock. He’d never
felt as good as he felt at this moment, holding his woman.

“Fuck,” Eshe echoed. Her body jolted as the lights were
sucked back into her chest. “I feel much better now.” She turned her head and
smiled over her right shoulder, the flames in her dark eyes dim.

Kane smiled back at her. “You do feel good.” He cupped her
breasts, rolling her nipples between his thumbs and index fingers.

“We should leave,” she moaned, her spine bowing.

She was right. They should leave. Kane’s smile faded. “I
need to sleep.” Eshe opened her mouth. “Give me twenty minutes of rest.” He
placed one of his fingers over her lush lips. “And then we’ll leave.”

I should wake him.
Eshe lay on top of the white
cotton bedsheets, her body tucked into Kane’s, his heat engulfing her, soothing
her.

We should leave.
Her souls, sated by multiple
orgasms, were as peaceful as the immaculately clean motel room. The pain had
dissipated, allowing her to think, and she wasn’t strong enough to move, to
voluntarily experience that agony again.

I’m being selfish, shortsighted, dumb. An
Orogone
warrior will be tracking us.
She stared up at the speckled ceiling, ideas,
decisions, plans racing through her rested mind.

I’ll wait two more minutes.
Eshe pushed against
Kane’s sleeping form, snuggling closer, savoring their connection. He rolled
into her, his right hand cupping her breast possessively, his palm rough and
arousing. One of his legs pinned her to the mattress. Kane’s breath wafted on
her bare shoulder, his musky scent surrounding her. They were both naked, skin
pressing against skin.

She’d never felt this close to any other being, this accepted,
this normal, whatever normal truly was. Eshe drifted her fingertips over Kane’s
bulging biceps, entranced by his strength, the beauty of his form. She’d spent
her long lifetime out of sync with the worlds she visited. Right here, right
now, she fit, she belonged.

Eshe gazed at Kane’s handsome face. His eyes were closed,
his eyelashes ink-black against his tanned skin.
Does he care for me?
He
needed her, he required her help to save his mother and, once he transferred to
Orogone
, he’d utilize her knowledge to speed his adjustment. Kane was an
intelligent male. He’d realize the advantages of a union with her and treat her
appropriately.

But that wasn’t caring. That wasn’t love. Could she spend an
almost endless lifetime joined with a male who didn’t care for her? Did she
have a choice? The only alternative was death…for her. He’d be free.

Gravel crunched in the parking lot outside the motel. A door
opened and Eshe inhaled deeply, her skin pricking with alarm. She’d waited too
long to wake Kane. An
Orogone
warrior had arrived.

She glanced at Kane. His eyes remained closed, her One
oblivious to the danger awaiting them. That was for the best as he couldn’t
defeat the warrior. Few males could. She’d be transferred, parted from her One,
and she would die.

Eshe slowly slid her body to the left, escaping Kane’s hold
on her. If he woke he’d try to save her, get himself transferred, suffer a
horrible death. She couldn’t allow that to happen. She swung her legs over the
side of the bed, the floor cold against the soles of her feet.

Calloused fingers wrapped around her wrist, Kane’s hand
moving incredibly fast. “What are you doing, love?” he drawled.

Love.
Her heart pounded. That word, the word she
longed to hear, had been said with irony. He didn’t mean it. “Let me go.” She
yanked on her arm. Kane didn’t release her, holding her easily. “The warrior
has come for me. Allow him to transfer me. You can still save your mother.”

“And what will happen to you?” He hurtled across the room,
grabbed his gun, his form magnificently naked. “How long would you survive
without me?”

She’d survive minutes, maybe hours. “If you’re transferred
my fate will be the same.” Eshe tugged Kane’s black T-shirt over her head,
needing that connection to him. “The warrior knows where I am, my One. He can
sense me as I sense him.”

“He can’t sense me.” Kane opened the door by a crack and
peered outside. “He’s standing in the parking lot. What is he waiting for?”

“He’s waiting for me to surrender.” Eshe searched through
the duffle bag, found a tube of essence and her injector. If Kane was
determined to face the warrior she would mitigate the risk of death.
“Transferring me to and from
Orogone
will take time away from my
experiments. The council prefers I remain on Earth.” She moved to Kane’s side. “I’ll
inject you with—”

“No injecting.” Kane turned his head, met her gaze, his eyes
hard. “You don’t know what my reaction will be and I need to be one hundred
percent healthy to defeat him.”

The warrior would think he was an off-worlder and transfer
him. Eshe’s hands shook. Without her essence he could die. “But—”

“No injecting,” Kane repeated. “Stay in the room.”

My male is stubborn.
Eshe lifted her chin, readying a
protest. “I—”

“That’s an order,” he barked and her spine straightened, her
body reacting to his dominance.

“I’ll stay here,” she reluctantly agreed, not needing to
move. The warrior would eventually tire of waiting and find her. “Be careful.”
Eshe squeezed his arm.

“I’m always careful.” Kane lunged forward and brushed his
lips over hers, giving Eshe a tantalizing taste of everything she could
possibly lose. “Don’t open this door for anyone other than me.”

He rushed out of the motel room, sprinting at full speed
along the concrete walkway, his naked body blurring under the lampposts’
flickering lights. Eshe watched him until he disappeared from view.

The warrior watched him also. Eshe’s heart pounded as the
tall, dark-haired
Orogone
turned his head, tracking Kane’s movements.
The warrior stood in front of a rusty truck. He held guns in both of his hands,
positioned with his legs braced, a long brown leather duster coat swirling
around his faded-jean-clad calves. His nostrils flared and his lips flattened.

He knows Kane isn’t one hundred percent human.
Eshe’s
grip on the edge of the door tightened. The warrior raised his gun, preparing
to transfer her One, to eliminate him as an obstacle.

She couldn’t allow that, not as a doctor nor as a female in
love. Eshe pushed on the door until it smacked against the exterior wall and
centered herself in the space, her toes touching the threshold. She hadn’t
opened the door. It had already been open. And she remained inside the room.
She hadn’t disobeyed any instructions.

The warrior’s gaze transferred to her. He removed his
sunglasses, revealing his unmistakably
Orogone
eyes, and stared at her.

Eshe stared back at him, resigned to her fate. “Come and get
me, Warrior,” she whispered. To save Kane and his mother she’d permit herself
to be transferred, to be parted from her One. She’d die but the male she loved
would live.

Fuck. My woman is gloriously stubborn.
Kane gritted
his teeth. Eshe stood in the motel-room doorway, clad in his black T-shirt,
stationed in plain view of the warrior sent to hunt her. With one easy shot she
could be transferred, could die.

Kane wouldn’t allow that to happen. He rushed along the
pathway, his body hidden by the hedge surrounding the building. Small brown
moths batted their wings against the hot lights above him, as suicidal as his
damn woman.

He couldn’t save them but he could rescue her. He had to. If
she died…he couldn’t consider that possibility, couldn’t bear the prospect of a
lifetime alone. A bone-deep cold settled over his body, strengthening his
resolve.

The warrior leaned against the hood of his beat-up truck,
leisurely adjusting his guns. If he was waiting for Eshe he’d be waiting for a
long time. She might be stubborn but she obeyed instructions. She wouldn’t
leave the motel room.

Kane crept closer, cursing himself for not asking Raff about
the gun’s range. The warrior hunting Eshe wouldn’t be expecting him, a mongrel
soldier, to defend her, to fire first, taking the offensive. Utilizing the
element of surprise was his best opportunity to defeat the alien. That tactic
was only effective once.

The warrior scanned his surroundings, his eyes shielded by
those sunglasses all
Orogones
wore. His nostrils flared.

Kane stilled.
Can he smell me?
He aimed his gun at
the alien’s chest.

The warrior rushed forward and Kane pressed the trigger. He
missed, the beam of blue light shattering a window.

“Fuck.” He cursed, tracking his adversary’s movements. The
warrior was fast, as fast as he was. Perspiration trickled down Kane’s spine.

The
Orogone
turned toward him and Kane ducked. Eshe
screamed as the wall behind him crumpled, chucks of plaster falling to the
concrete, wires sizzling, snapping. He ran toward the motel room, returning
fire.

The damn alien laughed, his amusement irking Kane. He
adjusted his aim for the man’s speed and pressed the trigger. The mocking
laughter abruptly stopped as the warrior floated, suspended in midair, his body
vibrating, his mouth rounded with shock.

“Stay away from my woman,” Kane growled. He pressed the
trigger again. The ray of blue energy engulfed the warrior and he disappeared
from view.

“Transfer well,” Eshe called out, her voice shaky.

The warrior wasn’t dead. The tension eased from Kane’s
shoulders. He was transferred. His gaze shifted to the motel room. And his
woman was safe.

“You defeated him.” Eshe stared at him, the open admiration
on her pale face warming his chest.

“We defeated him,” Kane conceded. She’d distracted the
warrior.

“The council will send another warrior.” She nibbled on her
bottom lip. The cotton around her unique tattoo was scorched, the hem of his
shirt grazing her shapely thighs.

He wanted her again, his cock hard, his blood pumping from
the gunfight. “We’re leaving,” Kane informed her gruffly. His needs would have
to wait.

He stalked toward her and her gaze lowered. Eshe licked the
lip she’d been abusing, her tongue small and pink. Kane remembered how good
that tongue had felt against him, and his cock bobbed.

“We should leave.” Her sigh tugged at his heart.

He grinned. She wanted him also, frustration etching lines
in her beautiful face. “I’ll pleasure you later,” Kane promised, rubbing her
arms, the contact grounding him. She was safe, alive, his.

“I want to inject you.” Eshe raised a device resembling a
gun. A tube of red-and-blue liquid had been placed in the barrel.

Kane eyed the concoction dubiously.
This is what she
wishes to inject into my mother?
It didn’t appear stable, the contents
moving. “Yes, test it on me first.” He held out his left arm. “Do you remember
my parents’ address?”

“I remember their address.” Eshe pressed the cold muzzle
against his biceps. “But this is safe.” She pressed the trigger and a needle
pierced his skin, the pain sharp. “I think.”

Kane waited, silently counting. Nothing happened. “It is—”

He convulsed, a wave of excruciating agony sweeping over
him. His body burned from the inside out, the internal attack temporarily
numbing his brain, blurring his vision. As he adjusted he saw himself sitting
in his woman’s cluttered mess of an office and he felt love, a love he’d only
experienced when gazing at Eshe.

The images swirled and he stood in a brightly colored
laboratory. A being with orange feathers and a beak worked beside him,
squawking, irritating him. He understood every click and whir and wished for
silence. He had work to complete. Beings were dying.

The laboratories changed, the walls turning silver,
metallic. A large purple-and-green alien rumbled, “Dance with me, Essie.” He
swung him into his arms, his face ridged, his head bald, his eyes
Orogone
.
They danced around the space. Joy bubbled inside Kane, spilling out of his
lips.

Then the ridged alien was gone and the dancing stopped. Kane
hunched over an examiner, standing in a blazing-white laboratory. Many beings,
all types, all colors, all shapes, surrounded him, doing the same. He was
determined to be first to know all of the answers, to be the best, to be
worthy.

“Kane, my One.” Eshe’s frantic voice pulled Kane out of the
reverie. “Are you okay?” She touched his cheeks, her fingers soft and slender.

He blinked and her beautiful face filled his vision, her
eyes wide with concern. “I’m okay.” Kane flexed his arm muscles, realizing it
wasn’t a lie. He felt great, better than he’d felt in years, if ever. “You
really should get out more. Your memories mostly consist of laboratories.” And
pain. He’d never forget the pain.

Eshe lowered her hands and stepped backward. “You saw my
memories?” Pink streaked across her cheeks.

“I lived your memories.” Kane pulled her close to him, his
hard cock pushing against her soft stomach. “They were as real as my own.” And
as lonely.

“Oh.” She stared at his chin, her head bowed. “I’m sorry.
The memories should burn off, with the essence, during transfer.”

“And if they don’t?” Kane released her, not liking the
thought of other men having her memories, feeling her emotions. They were
personal, his and hers. “Will you give everyone that part of you?”
Am I not
unique, her One?
He strode across the room and lobbed Eshe’s clothes at
her.

She caught them, her reflexes as fast as his. “I’d make that
sacrifice if it saved lives.” Her chin lifted, stubbornness written all over
her countenance.

“You’re too willing to make sacrifices.” Kane yanked on his
pants, fastening them quickly.
Damn doctors, always putting other people
first.
“Get dressed.”

Eshe’s fingers curled around the hem of his shirt.

“Leave that on,” Kane instructed, the barbarian in him
wanting her to wear his clothing, to show the world she belonged to him. Her
body, at least, would be his alone. He tucked his gun into his waistband, the
metal cool against his skin.

“Thank you.” Eshe donned her pants, sliding fabric over bare
skin, her lack of panties exciting him. “Your scent…helps.” She concealed her
eyes with those dreadful sunglasses.

Direct contact also soothed her pain. Kane slung the bag
over one shoulder and linked his fingers with Eshe’s. “You only need to last a
little longer, love.” Guilt coiled low in his gut. She delayed the joining,
extended her agony because of him, because of who, what he was.