Alien's Challenge: A Sci-Fi Alien Romance (Outlaw Planet Mates) Page 8

  Alice

  Alice rested her head on his chest, listening to the steady thump of his heart. The new scales had not yet hardened and had a spongy texture. She ran her fingers over him, marveling at the vivid scarlet coloring. Feeling the need to explore their difference, her hand wandered to appreciate the fine, flexible scales around his eyes and mouth, harder spines around his jaw, and the remains of his sensitive frill along his neck.

  Then came a second thump, almost synchronous with the first.

  Unsure what she heard, she crawled over him to press an ear to the other side.

  “You are curious,” he said.

  “What the hell am I hearing?” Alice sat up, straddling his torso.

  “My twin hearts.” He took her hands and positioned them, presumably, over his hearts.

  “Twin hearts,” she said. He warned her that their physiology was different. She took the scales, feathery quills, and a dick that split into three tentacles in stride, but somehow two hearts struck her as strange. “What do you need two hearts for?”

  “It is ancillary and remains unused except in high -stress situations.”

  “Like spontaneous adult puberty?”

  “Do not call it that,” he chided.

  “Don’t get snippy because you’re all moody and angsty because of the hormones,” she teased.

  From what he described, this fever sounded horrible. Hormones out of balance, molting of scales, and his libido in overdrive. Puberty was bad enough the first time around. She’d hate to do it again because of a random attraction.

  “It is not pleasant,” he admitted.

  A familiar hardness poked her from behind.

  “Well,” she said, leaning back to grind against him, “it’s not all bad.”

  Chapter 10

  Faris

  Dawn had not yet arrived. Alice stirred in his arms, her back pressed against him.

  “Hard again?” she muttered.

  “For you.” He whispered the words against the shell of her ear, causing her to shiver. Soft and responsive, he enjoyed how even the slightest touch generated a reaction. “Lift your tail for me, Alice Serrano.”

  She rolled over onto her belly and raised her hips. She rested her folded arms on a pillow.

  Gorgeous.

  He admired the luscious fullness of her ass, his hands rubbing and squeezing the flesh. She groaned, pushing back against him.

  “Don’t make me wait,” she said, her voice needy, as if she had a fever of her own burning within her.

  He pushed his stem into her, moaning at the heat of her. They moved together. With a few strokes, the petals separated from his stem. They expanded within her. With a small adjustment, he slipped one petal out so it rubbed her clit.

  The effect was immediate. Alice gasped and quivered, she moaned and cried for more. He pulled back slowly, letting the petals rub along her core, before thrusting in again. No matter how she bucked and begged, he kept the pace steady.

  He did not understand how she fit him so perfectly. Their bodies were different, hard and soft, but he could imagine no one else in his arms.

  Soon, she clenched around him.

  They rested together, limbs entwined. His twin hearts beat a consistent rhythm. Eventually, he realized it matched her single human heart.

  This was more than the fever. This was more than attraction and hormonal lust. He admired the fight in her. He liked her, and had from the moment she struck Rand with the end of the blaster.

  She was also compassionate. She saw beyond his disfigurement and touched the scarred remains of his frills. No one had…no one had ever touched him like that. It was not pity or kindness. It was yearning. True desire.

  For him.

  Faris huffed with amusement. He was too old for fanciful thoughts. He said he would return her to Earth. Alice believed him to be an honorable male who kept his pledges.

  They needed to leave that day, to start Alice’s impossible quest, before he succumbed to the temptation of keeping her.

  He listened to the sounds of the house as it woke for the day. Communications had been restored during the night. His message to Perrigaul had gone through. A reply waited to be read, but Faris was reluctant to leave the warmth of the bed.

  Watching Alice drift back to sleep was his priority. Her lips twitched, then grew slack. A rumbling snore escaped her, and it was adorable. This noise was far too loud for such a small being.

  Voices downstairs and footsteps on the stairs caught his attention.

  The door opened without a knock. The innkeeper stood in the doorway, framed by light. “There’s a fair number of people looking for you. I told you I don’t want trouble.”

  Arguing would not change the innkeeper’s stance. Either Rand’s crew was searching for him, or Rand dangled enough credits to motivate the townsfolk. Either way, they had to leave.

  “Thank you for the warning. Is there a back way out?” He sat at the edge of the bed and pulled on his clothes.

  The innkeeper pointed to the window. “Don’t fall.”

  He huffed, knowing that he’d climbed out of higher windows.

  “Alice, wake up.” He shook her shoulder, rousing her. She blinked, bleary. “You must dress. Quickly.”

  “What’s going on?”

  “We need to leave.”

  His words pierced through her grogginess. She perked immediately and lurched out of the bed; her legs tangled in the sheets. Kicking free of the blankets, she dressed in the clothes the innkeeper provided the day before. The sleeves and trouser legs were too long. She rolled up the cuffs and pronounced herself ready.

  Faris opened the window. It was a small drop onto a roof, then they could climb down to the ground. Alice squeezed between him and the window frame.

  “Oh no,” she said. “Absolutely not.”

  “Do you trust me?”

  “Right now, no.”

  Faris chuckled, climbing through the window. He gripped the ledge, then dropped down onto the lower roof. He held his arms up, gesturing for Alice to jump. “I will catch you.”

  She looked pale in the silvery light of early morning. “I’m going to regret this,” she muttered, but climbed out and fell into his arms.

  They made their way across slippery shingles and eventually down to the ground. His hovercycle waited in the alley next to the building.

  He peeked around the corner. No one was watching the alley. He unlocked the vehicle and walked it to the inn’s backyard. The engine protested the cold and sputtered to a start.

  “Climb on,” he ordered.

  Faces peered out of a window at the back of the inn. A door flung open. It was time to leave.

  Alice wrapped her arms around him, and they were off. People burst out of the inn. He sped through the twisting lanes of the town, randomly changing direction to lose their pursuers. The weather was not so cold, and they had enough fuel to reach the next town. He just needed a little more time.

  The hovercycle came to an abrupt halt. Snow skidded over the edge, tumbling into the gorge.

  The ferry was gone. He had not lost their pursuers at all. The ferry was not running—either through malice or misfortune—and they were trapped.

  Alice

  “Do you trust me?” Faris glanced at a device on his wrist, then tightened his grip on the motorcycle’s handlebars.

  Alice peered around him to look at the gorge, the lack of a bridge, and then glanced back at their pursuers.

  The answer came easily. She trusted him. More than she should, considering they had known each other for two entire days, but actions spoke louder than words. Faris had given reason after reason to believe that he was a man of his word.

  Decent. Honorable. No matter how he described himself.

  She wrapped her arms tightly around his middle and said, “Yes.”

  The engine on the motorcycle revved.

  “Hold tight. Do not let go,” he said.

  “It’s probably too late to discuss helmets but re
mind me to bring it up after we’re done running for our lives,” she said, squeezing her eyes shut and burying her face against the rough fabric of his coat.

  His back moved with silent laughter, which horrified her because this was not the time for laughing.

  The motorcycle sped forward.

  This is fine, this is fine—the ground fell out from underneath them—this is not fine.

  They fell…

  And fell…

  And…

  Chapter 11

  Alice

  And landed.

  The motorcycle bounced, metal groaning from the impact. It tilted dangerously to one side, skidding across a metal surface.

  Wind swirled around them, her hair lashing against her face. The cliff face moved. No, Alice realized, they were rising. The town came into view and grew smaller. They were on top of a ship.

  Faris wrapped his arms around her and threw himself off the bike. They rolled, the cold metal surface searing through her coat.

  The surface gave way—no, it curved—and they gained speed. It was an uncontrollable roll off the hull of the ship. He reached out and grabbed a ladder rung.

  Suddenly, their momentum ceased. The motorcycle slid past them and over the side, into the chasm.

  His legs kicked, trying to find purchase. “Pull yourself up,” he said, the wind nearly drowning out his voice.

  The ladder stretched forever. Her muscles would not cooperate.

  “I can’t,” she said.

  “You can. Do not look down.”

  She looked down.

  Falsespire grew smaller by the second. Dizziness battled nausea. She didn’t know which would win, but either way, it wouldn’t be pretty.

  “Alice, climb,” he said, yanking her attention back to him.

  Her stomach churned, but she managed to pull herself up the ladder.

  One rung at a time, she coached herself. Slowly, painfully slowly, she pulled herself up.

  At the top, she scrambled as far away from the edge as possible.

  A hatch opened.

  “You’re late,” Faris said.

  Faris

  Perrigaul appeared pleased with himself, his quills fluffed and perky. “Hello, I am well. Thank you for asking.”

  “Stand aside. Let Alice in,” Faris ordered.

  Perrigaul disappeared down the hatch. Alice peered over the ledge, then climbed down the ladder. He followed, and the hatch closed behind him.

  An old prison transport ship. The interior had changed little in the years since the prison closed. Hard benches ran along the wall, complete with manacles still bolted to the floor. It was a cold, unforgiving vessel, and the leaks around the pressurized seals promised to freeze him to the bone. Still, it was an improvement over the last transport ship he had ridden in.

  “Do I want to know how you came by a prison transport ship?” Faris asked.

  “I stole it.” Perrigaul slapped Faris on the back, like he delivered the punchline to a great joke.

  “You stole a ship,” Faris repeated. He removed his coat and draped it over Alice’s shoulders. He could deal with the cold better than her.

  “If they did not want their ship stolen, they should have better security protocols.”

  Faris scrubbed a hand along his jaw. “This is what I meant by unnecessary risks. Actions have consequences and—”

  “Your message said to come immediately,” Perrigaul interrupted. “Did you want me to travel to the Hub to see if I could coax our ship into the air? And then fly back to Falsespire and scrap your remains out of the gorge?”

  Fair enough, Faris mentally conceded, though he would never admit it.

  “The tether failed,” he said, grasping onto a fault to complain about.

  “Well, it’s a stolen ship. What can you do?” Perrigaul seemed unconcerned that Faris nearly fell off the top of a moving ship.

  “Not to complain, but shouldn’t someone be flying this?” Alice asked.

  “The computer is flying,” Perrigaul answered. He regarded Alice with curiosity. His nostrils flared with a deep breath and he shook his head, quills flat. No doubt he smelled Faris on Alice. “Did you fix the human? Are you keeping her?” he asked.

  “If you mean, did we get the translator repaired, then yes. That was fixed. If you’re talking about me as a person, screw you. I don’t need fixing,” Alice said. “And no one’s keeping me.”

  “We will reunite Alice with her Miriam and return her to Earth,” Faris said.

  Perrigaul blinked. “What’s a Mir-ri-am?”

  “She was abducted with me,” Alice said.

  “Now we must find a random human as well as find Earth?” Perrigaul turned to face Faris. “How do you propose we finance this farce? Do you know what our ship needs to leave to be spaceworthy?”

  He knew. Repairs and replacement parts created a running tally in his mind. “We’ll use our profits from the sale of the blaster. We can sell this transport.”

  “You’ll use your half of the profits. Not mine.”

  “You are co-owner of the ship, which means you are also responsible for the repairs and maintenance.”

  “And now I am destitute as well as tasked to a fool’s errand,” he said.

  “Finding Miriam and Earth isn’t a fool’s errand,” Alice added.

  Perrigaul tossed a sharp look to her, as if he blamed her.

  Faris stepped in front of Alice, blocking her from Perrigaul’s sight. He did not get to look at Alice that way. No one did.

  “What other promises have you made?” Perrigaul asked.

  “I gave my word,” Faris said, voice rumbling with a warning.

  The younger male snorted. “Your word. The word of a thief.”

  “Says the male who arrived in a stolen transport,” Faris said.

  “Says the male who rescued you from an angry mob.” He stepped closer, radiating menace.

  The intimidation tactic might have worked, but Faris knew the male too well. “How long until we reach the Hub?” he asked.

  Perrigaul flicked a hand along his chin in a rude gesture, then tossed himself into the pilot’s chair. “Three hours, assuming the fuel gauge is correct. We may need to refuel.”

  Faris refused to be drawn into the male’s dramatics. He escorted Alice to the bench. There were no safety harnesses. A rummage under the bench produced a ration kit.

  He sniffed a ration bar, deemed it old but edible, and passed it to Alice. She nibbled on the corner.

  “You did not steal a vessel with a full tank?” Faris asked.

  “Why, yes,” Perrigaul said in a tone of mocking delight, “it is amazing how I determined your location and arrived just as you were chased to a literal cliff. Sometimes I impress myself. Please, don’t thank me. Your lovely scowl is all the thanks I need.”

  Faris took a large bite of his half of the ration bar. “Thank you. I see that it was not a mistake trading away my Imperial-issued boots for you.”

  Perrigaul laughed, his frills fluttering.

  “You traded boots for him?” Alice asked.

  “To be fair, they were very nice boots,” Perrigaul said. “I was not cheap.”

  “You were pathetic. All big eyes and starving,” Faris said.

  The scrawny youth had been half the size a hatchling should be for his age. An older male took possession of Perrigaul almost immediately, touching the child in a way that made Faris’ scales crawl. He bargained away his most valuable possession to save the child.

  “Do you wish me to retrieve your cycle or not?” Perrigaul did not wait for his response and the vessel dipped to the bottom of the gorge.

  “He’s been a burr under my scales ever since.” His tail twitched in amusement, despite the grumble in his voice.

  Alice

  Alice stretched out on the bench. Little more than foam over metal, her back would pay the price.

  Lying on her side, she had a clear view of the manacles bolted to the floor. They rattled and slid across the flo
or as the ship moved. She couldn’t look away.

  Faris told her this planet had been a prison. The reality of that fact remained an abstract concept to her until she saw the manacles. This was a transport ship for prisoners. Those manacles were meant for prisoners.

  Most important, who did Perrigaul steal this ship from that they felt it was important to keep the manacles?

  She should sleep. Her eyes felt gritty but her mind would not quiet.

  Faris sat in the front with the other guy, Perrigaul. The drone of the engine nearly drowned out Faris and Perrigaul’s conversation, but she caught most of it. They bickered with a warmth that spoke of years of friendship. She was glad he had a friend in this place. This planet seemed the sort of place you needed friends.

  “Is it the fever?” Perrigaul asked.

  “Of course, it is. Do not touch me,” Faris snapped.

  Alice lifted her head to look at them. Perrigaul had one hand pressed to Faris’ chest. He made a clicking noise and pressed his palm to the other side of his chest.

  “You are bonded,” Perrigaul said.

  “I am not. It is the fever.” Faris knocked his hand away.

  “What have you done?”

  Faris said nothing. His lack of response worried Alice.

  Bonded?

  Chapter 12

  Alice

  They stopped for fuel at a trading post. No longer in the mountains, the trading post was on an open plain. Patchwork buildings clustered around an airfield. As far as Alice could tell, the main attraction was the wind. A cold wind slapped her in the face, watering her eyes, and slicing through her clothes.

  “Refuel. Alice requires supplies, and I require a meal,” Faris said to Perrigaul.

  “I don’t need anything,” she said.

  “False. Humans are intolerant of the cold. You require proper outfitting.”

  Well, true. “If you don’t mind spending the money.”

  “What else is there to spend it on?” His tone implied that it wasn’t a question, but she knew the answer anyhow. Perrigaul had droned on for ages about all the things he could not do or purchase because Faris “needed to rescue a human.”