Yce

Captured by Aliens: Book Three

A. G. Wilde

Yce

Yce © A. G. Wilde 2020

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, businesses, or locales is coincidental and is not intended by the author.

To all the women who are obsessed with the irresistible heroes they read about in books.

Why must we suffer so?—especially when those heroes end up being cast by real-life irresistible men like Henry Cavill (if you don’t know who he is, Google him. Thank me later;))

Contents

Disclaimer

Keep In Touch

Yce

Author’s Note

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Next in the Series

Acknowledgments

Keep In Touch

If you enjoyed this book…

About the Author

Disclaimer

This work of fiction is intended for mature audiences only.

All sexually active characters portrayed in this book are eighteen years of age or older.

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Yce

When she’d left the gym to head home for a quiet night, the last thing she’d expected was to be abducted by aliens to then be thrown into a fight for life and survival aboard an alien slave ship.

Now that chapter is over and there’s another obstacle in her way—surviving on a desert planet where everything lives to kill…all the while dealing with him…

Yce.

The alien she’s stuck with.

He’s otherworldly, strange, and absolutely confusing.

She hates him and the feeling seems to be mutual.

Problem is, they are stuck in each other’s company until they reach the outpost to send a message for help.

Aliens are the reason she’s in this predicament and Yce is probably no better than her captors…

Yet, as they face the odds together, she finds that maybe, just maybe, she doesn’t really hate him as much as she’d like and maybe he doesn’t hate her at all…

Author’s Note

If you’ve read my other books, you will know there are some underlying dark themes that come across in my work. This book is no different.

In this book, there is reference to the very delicate topic of childhood sexual abuse. This is not discussed in detail or described; however, there is brief allusion to it.

If this is a trigger for you and you decide to skip this book, I completely understand! Don’t worry, I’m working on the next in the series and hopefully there will be no dark themes in that one (keyword: hopefully).

Chapter One

Diana.

A descendant of Vikings with hair like fire and a temper to match.

Bloodline of a warrior from a people that conquered.

Ragnar Lothbrok’s own daughter.

A fighter.

A female warrior.

Someone to be reckoned with…

Then how the hell did she get captured by…slugs?

If she wasn’t so pissed about it, she’d hang her head in shame.

But she could do that later.

Right now, she had other things to deal with. Mainly the fact that the vessel she was on was hurtling to its death…and probably hers too—most definitely hers too.

A red warning light bathed the ship’s interior as alarms blared all around her. The ship, the Elysium it was called, shuddered as another missile connected with it.

Diana gripped the control panel, standing frozen as she stared out through the wide glass in front of her. She was in outer space, literal outer space, in a galaxy somewhere far from Earth.

The past few days had been nothing short of hard-to-believe. But here she was, in a spaceship flying through space, trying to escape from pursuers who were determined to take the Elysium down.

Outside the ship, black fighter jets zoomed past the cockpit now and then. Green laser beams shot from their cannons as they fired at the Elysium.

She knew who owned those ships.

She knew who was chasing them.

It was the High Tasqals.

When she’d first been abducted, she’d woken up to see slug-like aliens hovering on blue orbs. She’d thought that was bad. She’d soon learned they were called the Isclits but things had gone from bad to worse when it became evident the Isclits were working for an even greater evil—the High Tasqals.

She’d first set eyes on one when she and the other human women had been auctioned in a grand auditorium to the Tasqals.

Fucking pieces of shit.

The Tasqals all had dark-green skin with fluid-filled pockets covering every section of their bodies that the ridiculous white robes they wore couldn’t hide.

The hate she felt towards them for how she and the other women had been treated had still not cooled.

The Tasqals looked diseased—like the scourge of this part of the universe. But they were powerful—that she could admit—controlling other species to do their bidding.

She was sure they weren’t the actual pilots of the ships currently attacking. Tasqals were too “royal” for that. It had to be the gator-like guards that had manned the Isclit ship. They were the other pieces of shit she hated.

Hell, she hated them all—the Isclits, the Tasqals, and their gator-guard henchmen.

So far, all aliens could die and cease to exist for all she cared. They were all bad.

Well…probably not all of them.

After all, other aliens were the reason she and the other human women had managed to escape from the Isclit ship.

Members of the Restitution, a group of aliens who were fighting against the Tasqal’s crimes, had targeted the Isclit ship. They had infiltrated it, rescued her and the other humans, and destroyed the Isclit carrier.

But their relief was short-lived, as now, the Tasqals were after them again. It wasn’t surprising. They weren’t about to let their “slaves” get away so easily. Either that or they were pissed about losing one of their carriers.

She wanted to think it was the latter.

“Damage impact: ninety percent,” the female voice of the Elysium’s artificial intelligence said. Ninety percent! Diana was surprised the ship was still even able to function.

Palms planted firmly against the control panel, Diana kept her gaze on the huge glass screen in front of her.

The Tasqal ships were still swarming around them. They swooped and circled, green lasers firing at every pass. It didn’t look good.

It didn’t look good at all.

The chances of survival looked dim.

The other human women, all four of them that had been rescued, had bailed ship with the other alien members of the Restitution.

Athena had abandoned ship with Xul, Piper had gone with Crex, Song was with Kyris, and Evren was with Kyro.

She could see them now.

Well, she could see the trails of their escape pods as they shot away from the Elysium. They would land somewhere on some planet called Muk that was directly below them.

Staring at the fighter jets as they swooped and fired their lasers, she knew one thing: she should have gone with them.

She’d been an idiot not to abandon ship.

But she was tired of running.

Tired of not fighting back.

And maybe she wasn’t the only one.

Movement to her side drew her attention back to the fact that she wasn’t alone. An alien, a member of the Restitution, had also refused to abandon the Elysium.

Watching him now, she frowned slightly.

Maybe he was tired of running too.

Or maybe he was just batshit crazy like her.

He’d refused to leave the Elysium, and for some reason she could not understand, she’d stupidly followed behind him to the control room. Now, he was busy pressing buttons she didn’t know the purpose of, his concentration focused on what he was doing.

He didn’t seem to even notice her presence, and that was fine.

He was doing what he could to save them…or the ship, at least.

Either way, she wasn’t about to get in his way when he obviously knew what he was doing.

As she returned her gaze to the huge glass screen that served as a barrier between them and space, the ship shuddered again and tilted forward.

“Two supplemental engines damaged,” the ship said.

Diana gritted her teeth and balled her fists.

“Damage impact: ninety-five percent,” the ship continued.

Diana let out a breath. Five percent left. Did that mean the ship would explode soon?

“Cloaking systems: down. Main engine: down. Shields: down,” the ship said. “One engine remaining.”

Things were even worse than she’d thought. Now more than ever, she wished she’d hopped into an escape pod. She’d have had to have gone alone though. The captain, Xul, had ordered that each human abandon ship with a “guard” so to speak, for the humans’ safety. Apparently, the planet below was harsh and unpredictable and as they were familiar with it and the humans weren’t, it only made sense to pair up.

But the big blue alien beside her had decided to stay on the dying Elysium. That meant she would have been the only one without a “guard.” Not that she needed one, but maybe going it alone on a strange planet was better than her current situation.

The Elysium was doomed and she was beginning to feel helpless. It was a feeling she hated. She didn’t like not being in control. If the ship was that damaged, she needed to do something to increase their chances of survival.

It was a fight and she was used to fighting. As with life, everything was.

There must be something she could do.

She glanced at the alien next to her and watched him move. He was completely focused on the buttons he was pressing. The white tattoos networking all over his blue skin seemed to glow with his deep concentration as the gem embedded in the middle of his forehead did the same. Whatever he was trying to do, she didn’t know. But she couldn’t just stand there watching them fall to their death.

When she’d thought of what would kill her, it hadn’t been getting blown up in space. You know, what were the chances of getting into space in the first place? Unless she’d somehow become good friends with some higher-ups at NASA, or maybe Elon Musk, that wasn’t happening.

But here she was.

Well, she’d quarrel about it later.

Right now, she needed to do something.

“What can I do to help?”

Thanks to the translators that seemed commonplace in this section of the galaxy, she knew he could understand what she said and she could understand him as well. Back on the Isclit ship, they’d so graciously shot her behind the ear with her own translator and the memory of it made her skin itch at the spot.

She said graciously, but they hadn’t been gracious at all.

If she remembered correctly, getting the translator implanted had involved her being held down against her will while they’d pointed a gun to the side of her head.

The big blue alien brushed past her, ignoring her question, and she wondered for a second if he’d heard what she’d asked.

His name was Yce and as a testament to his name, he reminded her of a big, blue glacier.

He was tall, muscular, and unnerving.

He could pass for a human in costume, but she knew he was anything but human. If that huge gem embedded in the middle of his forehead wasn’t any indication, she didn’t know what was.

Unless he was just one of those people who loved extreme modifications…but something told her that gem was a part of his actual forehead.

How that worked, she’d probably find out later—if they survived.

“I said,” she spoke louder as the ship shuddered again, “what can I do to help?!”

He paused then and glanced at her, his finger poised over a button as if he hadn’t really thought of asking her for assistance.

Pssh. Men.

“Can you steer?” It was a question she didn’t expect.

“Steer?” Diana’s frown grew deeper. “You mean steer the ship?” There was another loud explosion and the ship shuddered again.

“Yes.” His face was expressionless. Yce was like ice. “I am directing all the energy in the ship to the central core and the one remaining engine. It should give us just enough energy to shoot towards Muk and hasten our entry to the planet before the ship is completely destroyed.”

“Ok.” Diana nodded, biting her bottom lip. She was getting the picture. “And you need me to steer as we enter?”

“No.” He began pressing buttons again, his attention focused on the panel. “I need you to steer after we enter. The ship will be free falling.”

Of course. She couldn’t have asked for less.

The ship shuddered again and Diana took a deep breath.

He knew more about this stuff than she did.

She’d just have to follow his lead.

After all, she had no choice. She’d been the one to stay behind when she could have gotten into an escape pod and hopefully made it past the barrage of lasers and the ships swarming outside.

“Entering Muk’s atmosphere in five…four…three…” the ship said.

“Hold on to something!” the alien beside her shouted as he slammed his fist on a big button in the center of the control panel.

Hold on to something, like what?!

The closest thing to her was his muscly arm and she wasn’t grabbing on to that!

There was nothing else around them to hold on to except the pilots’ yokes but before she could stumble over to one, the ship went into a full nose-dive, slamming her against the control panel as it suddenly picked up incredible speed and entered the planet’s outer atmosphere.

“Shit!” she shouted, as the room was suddenly illuminated by a bright and blinding light. They were entering the atmosphere fast. Way too fast. Even she knew that. But if this was the only way to get away from the fighter jets, so be it.

“What if they follow us?!” Even though she was shouting, she could hardly hear her voice over the roaring of the ship.

“They won’t. Their ships aren’t meant for landing from directly space. They are only suitable for space combat. They will explode if they follow us.” He didn’t look at her as he spoke. Instead, he gripped the panel in front of him, his focus on the outside of the ship as his white eyes seemed to glow.

Yep. White.

She wasn’t even kidding. As a matter of fact, it wasn’t his eyes alone that were glowing. The gem in his head and the tattoos across his body were glowing too and she wondered if he was going to blow up with the ship.

The Elysium was still shuddering, its alarms blaring as they went further into the planet’s atmosphere, and it felt as if everything was going to break apart.

“Now!” the alien ordered, his white eyes flashing to hers.

His eyes startled her every time their gazes met, but she’d have to deal with that later. Right now, she needed to summon her big girl panties, pull them up, and help him with their escape.

Gulping, Diana nodded.

Right. It was her turn to help.

Steer.

All she had to do was steer.

Shit, she wasn’t even a good driver on Earth.

With a momentary glance at him, she shrugged.

What he didn’t know couldn’t hurt him.

Well…maybe this was one of those cases in which it could.

But he didn’t have to know that.

Chapter Two

The ship was shuddering and, with each shudder, he could feel her pain.

The Elysium was his, given to him by his father as a rite of passage after completing the coming-of-age trials.

She had been engineered for him, made of sleek white metal just like the neurons that shone from underneath his skin.

And now she was being ripped apart by the detestable Hedgerud fighters who worked under the High Tasqals.

Logic had told him to abandon her, but he couldn’t. How could he abandon something that he loved?

He was connected to her. More so than any of his brothers fighting for the Restitution realized. The Elysium’s AI was engineered to respond specifically to his neurons.

She was a part of him.

There was no way he could have left her for one of the escape pods. Not when there was a chance he could save her.

As he worked, he almost forgot about the other being in the cockpit with him, which was strange. It just showed how intense his focus was on saving the Elysium.

The other being was human. A human female.

Why she’d stayed behind, he had no idea. Surely, her species had some sort of survival instinct. After all, the others of her kind had abandoned ship with his brothers. But this one, this one with hair like red hjeks, she had stayed behind.

As he focused on the control panel, calibrating the ship’s central core so he could execute his plan for their escape, he could sense her hatred of the aliens swarming around them.

He didn’t even need to read her mind.

Maybe that’s why she’d stayed behind.

Pure hatred.

Perhaps she thought she could somehow exact revenge on the Tasqals by remaining on a doomed ship?

Ridiculous.

Her species was not only emotional, they were also illogical. Though she was silent at the moment, she was distracting, and he needed to remain focused.

This was the precise reason why he preferred to work alone. He had enough voices in his head; he didn’t need physical company.

Shaking his head, he brushed past her to the other side of the control panel.

His plan was to direct all the remaining energy to the central core.

Before the ship even informed them, he felt when she had lost her two supplemental engines. Plus, the main engine was down.

That left only one engine.

One chance.

He’d need to direct all the energy to that one engine and blast them toward the surface. He couldn’t use the fuel tank. If they survived, he’d need that fuel for later.

That meant his plan had to work.

If it didn’t, then...

He wouldn’t even consider it.

He would fight to the death to save his ship.

The human said something to him and it took a while for the words to permeate his thoughts.

Glancing at her, her blue eyes met his and, for a moment, he remembered the first time he’d seen those blue eyes.

He’d been in his cell on the Isclit ship. After he and his brothers had allowed themselves to be captured by the Isclits, they only had to wait to execute their plan.

Xul had gotten a job with the Isclits months before and managed to be placed on the ship that was their target.

It had been an incredibly complicated plan, but they had managed to achieve their two primary objectives.

One: Kill Ulruq, one of the High Tasqal leaders.

Two: Destroy the Isclit ship.

What they hadn’t expected was for the Isclits to make a stop at a planet before he and his brothers had completed the mission.

They’d stopped at a planet listed as HREX4X1…Earth, the humans called it. Coincidentally, the planet was in a system just a few light years away from his own planet.

But he hadn’t expected the beings that they’d brought on board to be so…surprising.

The females the Isclits had abducted were thrown in cells with the members of his team before the ship continued on its journey to another planet to abduct more beings.

Only, the Isclits wouldn’t reach that other planet. Their mission would be completed before that could happen.

But these humans…

They’d thrown the hjek-haired one in his cell and he had immediately noticed something.

She would be distracting.

Despite being chained as they’d carried her along, the little human had been fighting and squirming, lashing out at the Hedgerud guards despite having had no weapons, no body armor, and nothing to defend herself.

When she’d been thrown in the cell and focused her icy blue eyes on him, the image she’d cast on his mind he’d remember for a long time.

She’d looked utterly, undeniably, mad.

She had been ready to fight him too, even though he hadn’t attacked her.

He’d noticed something else too.

Her face had no discerning features. She had no horns. No neurons glowing under her skin. No ridges on her forehead. No gem in her head. Nothing.

Her face was unbelievably…simple.

But despite her madness, it was that exact simplicity that made her absolutely striking.

It was hard to explain.

Wild blue eyes contrasted with hjek-colored hair and he realized with immediate effect that there was beauty in her simplicity.

The human looked nothing like he had expected her to look.

She was small. Soft. Beautiful—despite that she’d daubed mud all over her body as some form of camouflage.

Added to the hjek hair, blue eyes, and her obvious fighting spirit, he knew there was no way he’d be able to focus one-hundred percent on the mission while in her presence.

That’s why he preferred to work alone.

That’s how it had always been…

His brothers in the Restitution understood this and gave him his space.

But these humans…these humans had been unexpected.

So, he’d been stuck with her then. And now he was stuck with her again.

He’d seen what had happened with his brother Xul.

Xul had somehow fallen for the human he’d been with. And Crex, of all people, the Ceqtaq seemed to have fallen for the human that had been thrown into his cell—so much so that he almost blew the entire mission in an effort to protect her.

Such a thing would never happen to him.

He would not allow himself to be swayed by these unexpected beings.

No, that wouldn’t happen.

Another shudder of the Elysium brought him back to the present and he realized he hadn’t answered the human.

Locking eyes with her wild gaze, he instructed her that she’d have to steer the ship. Surely, she could manage such a task.

If he’d been alone, he’d have had to connect his mind with the Elysium’s AI to handle that part of the landing while he operated the thrusters. But maybe with her here, she could help.

As the Elysium tilted and shot towards Muk’s atmosphere, he glanced at the human beside him one last time.

If they managed to survive this, he’d have to figure out how he was going to deal with her constant presence.

Chapter Three

The speed of entry and the planet’s gravity pulled her toward the glass surrounding the cockpit. As Diana pulled herself toward the pilot’s seat, it felt as if her own body weight was working against her. It was difficult and felt incredibly slow, but when she finally got to the seat, buckled herself in, and grabbed the yoke, she suddenly felt surer of herself.

“I’m directing any energy we have left to the thrusters to slow our descent. Your job is to steer. Try to keep her nose up and stay away from the dunes.”

Her? So he saw the Elysium as a woman.

Kind of like how some men babied their cars?

Nodding without a word, Diana cracked her knuckles.

Here we go.

Never mind that this was real-life Space Invaders, Diana grabbed the yoke and pulled hard.

It was in every movie scene where a plane was about to crash. The pilot would pull the yoke towards himself to lift the aircraft into the air. She only hoped the Elysium worked the same way. But the speed of their approach was almost blinding as air compression caused the front of the spaceship to glow with a fiery light.

She could still see the fighter jets swarming around them, and for a second, she wondered if the Elysium’s sudden burst of speed was even going to help them escape. But as they approached the dull brown of the planet’s surface, she noticed the fighter jets were dropping off one by one—retreating to the depths of space where they belonged.

But one problem solved didn’t mean another wasn’t staring them in the face.

The ship was heading to the surface fast, too fast.

“I can’t pull her up!” she shouted, mildly aware of Yce’s movements around her. He was still pressing buttons and pulling levers, his concentration on what he was doing and not on the scene in front of her.

All she could see was brown. Just brown. It looked like sand, so that shouldn’t be too bad if they hit it directly, right?

But still, entering at the speed at which they were going would be like falling flat against a rock face.

“Come on!” Diana screamed, bracing her back against the seat. Feet pressed against the control panel for more leverage, she pulled as hard as she could on the yoke. “It’s not slowing down!”

“Thrusters activating now,” Yce said as he hopped into the seat beside hers. With a glance at her, he did something that seemed to have an immediate effect.

“I can’t help you steer,” he said. “I have to control the thrusters manually. The Elysium is barely hanging on. None of her systems are working. Can you handle it?”

“Do I have a choice?!” She knew she was shouting but she couldn’t help herself. The sound of blood rushing in her ears was enough to make her go deaf.

As he worked the thrusters, she finally felt the yoke respond to her demands. The ship swayed a bit as it slowed down a little.

“Keep pulling,” he said.

“No, I was planning on letting go.” She spoke through gritted teeth.

“Well, don’t.”

Apparently, he didn’t go to sarcasm school.

She didn’t have time to roll her eyes as she was literally looking at death in front of her.

The surface seemed so close now; they only had a few minutes before impact.

“Impact in ten…nine…” The Elysium said.

Okay. Maybe not minutes. Maybe only seconds.

“Keep pulling!” Yce raised his voice and Diana cut him a look.

What did it look like she was doing?

She was breathing hard as she pulled on the yoke and, finally, the ship seemed to slow down enough for the yoke to respond more easily.

“Steer now. Avoid the dunes.”

Dunes?

She hadn’t seen them before, but he was right. There were several of them, appearing from what had first looked like a flat brown surface. But, as they approached, the definition of the terrain became clear.

There were dunes everywhere, dotting the ground in almost every free spot.

Avoid the dunes?

Was he looking at the same surface she was? There was no way to avoid the frickin’ dunes!

Turning the yoke left and right, the ship swerved as she tried to spot an area that was relatively vacant, but all she could see was lumps, and lumps, and more lumps—dunes everywhere.

“We have to land as softly as we can. Otherwise, the impact will ignite the fuel tank and we will…” Yce trailed off and Diana gulped.

Yes. A fiery death. It seemed the options of how to die hadn’t changed from those presented a few minutes ago.

He must have seen the look on her face because he continued, “The thrusters will help. Just avoid the dunes.”

Just avoid the dunes.

Again, she wondered if he was seeing what she was seeing. Maybe he was blind. Maybe his eye condition made his eyes white? But she knew he wasn’t blind. Well…maybe he was just a dumbass then.

But as they approached, steering became a little easier. Whatever he was doing was working. The thrusters were slowly stabilizing the ship and, as long as she steered well, they just might make it out of this alive.

“Four…three…two…one,” the ship counted down.

The impact was hard, and if it weren’t for the seatbelts holding her securely to the seat, she would have been plastered across the screen like an unfortunate fly on a windshield.

As her body jolted forward, Diana struggled to keep control of the ship. The whiplash hurt and, as the vessel lifted into the air once more, she only had time to take a breath before it slammed into the surface again, rose into the air, and slammed down again as they skidded across the sand.

It was almost impossible to see where they were going with the torrent of sand now being thrown across the screen. But she tried.

She had to.

They were still going fast, the speed making everything to the sides a complete blur.

She managed to just about miss some of the dunes, preventing the Elysium from crashing directly into them, but she was sure the wings of the vessel either sliced through them or were broken off by the impact because the dunes were way too close.

As they skidded for what felt like a full kilometer, the ship finally came to a halt.

“Damage impact: ninety-eight percent,” the Elysium said.

Ninety-eight percent. But they were alive.

They were alive!

Diana felt her chest heave as she breathed hard.

They’d made it.

Turning wild eyes to the alien beside her, she found his white gaze was already on her.

“Well done,” he said before rising and flipping some switches.

The alarm blaring in the ship died and the deep red light that flooded its halls was replaced by a dim yellow.

“We have to move,” he said, already heading from the cockpit.

Right.

There wasn’t any time to take a breather. She was sure the Tasqals would be coming after them shortly. They were escapees running for their lives, after all.

Yce was already grabbing things from compartments and pushing them into what looked like a cloth bag before she caught up with him.

Looking around the room, she realized they were in some sort of storage area.

Things were strewn everywhere and she was surprised the space was even intact.

Snatching a cloth bag that was hanging on the wall, she began opening compartments too.

In one, she found a sort of knife. Grabbing it, she stuffed it into the bag and began searching for more things. Whatever she found that may be useful, she stuffed into the bag. There was a small first-aid kit and some packets of what could only be food. There was a cloth she assumed could be used as a towel too.

“Come.” She heard his voice just as she put the last item in the bag.

When she turned, the blue alien was already leaving the room, the only image being his long white hair swaying as he hurried to wherever he was going to next.

Rushing behind him, she caught up with him at the door of the ship.

“Wait!”

He paused and turned to face her, his white eyes unreadable.

“What if we can’t breathe out there?”

“This is Muk. Its atmosphere is hospitable to your kind.” He paused. “And mine.”

He turned and pressed a button by the ship’s door.

Well then, she’d just have to take his word for it.

As the door of the ship opened and the alien stepped out, Diana followed him.

She’d expected many things, but what she didn’t expect was the blazing heat that suddenly hit her.

Glancing up into the sky, her eyes widened a little.

There were two suns, one much larger than the other.

Her mouth fell open a little as she stared at them.

It was a spectacular sight.

Yce seemed to raise his head and sniff the air a little.

“A sandstorm is heading our way.” His voice seemed to float to her ear and she turned her attention to him.

“A sandstorm?” She glanced around them.

How did he know that? The place seemed relatively calm. Deserted, even.

The pun wasn’t lost on her.

“Yes,” he said. “It will reach us soon.”

“Then maybe we shouldn’t abandon ship just yet. I thought you stayed with the Elysium to protect it.”

He turned to her, his hair swaying as he did and she was immediately struck by the fact that he was frickin’ handsome. He looked like a Greek god. It was hard not to stare.

“The sandstorm will cover her. She will be hidden. Safe.” Yce glanced at the ship and only then did Diana step away to look at it.

“Holy shit,” she breathed. That was what she had been in?

The entire back half of the ship was a mangled mess and there were bits and pieces hanging from it everywhere. The nose of the ship where they’d been safe was buried in the sand and what she’d call the wings were bent into weird positions.

“Damn,” she uttered. The ship was no longer the sleek white spectacle she’d first seen. It was done for—its last act of duty being to get them out of danger. For that, she thanked it.

“The Elysium will survive,” he said, as if reading her mind. “For now, we must leave her here and head for one of the Muk outposts. Let’s move.”

Diana’s brows furrowed slightly.

Was he always so bossy? If they had to do this together, that would have to change.

Throwing the cloth bag over her shoulder, her bare feet sunk into the sand as she followed behind him.

She’d had time to find only a shirt and cargo-type pants before they’d been attacked, but there’d been no spare shoes on the ship.

Now, as she trudged behind him, the hot sand burned the soles of her feet.

Gritting her teeth, she glanced up at the twin suns.

They were a nice sight, yes, but shit, because of them the sand was like walking on hot coal.

Hissing, she noticed the alien in front of her was scanning the skies as he walked and she did the same.

There was no telling when the Tasqals would come after them. It could be now or it could be tomorrow but the fact was that they were out in the open and, as far as she could see, there was nowhere to hide. It was only desert as far as the horizon.

“The outpost,” she breathed, as she struggled to pull her feet out of the loose sand and put one foot in front of the other. “How far is it?”

“A few days’ walk.”

Great.

At this pace, it may be a few months’ walk.

She was happy, however, to see that she wasn’t the only one struggling in the sand. He was wearing boots, though—that made things much easier for him.

“The Elysium will sleep while we are away. The sandstorm will cover her and when it is safe I will return,” he said.

Diana nodded, though she knew he couldn’t see the response with his back turned.

Well, he’d be doing that alone.

As soon as she could get to safety, she was staying there.

Chapter Four

As she trudged behind him in the sand, Diana shaded her eyes and adjusted the bag over her shoulders.

Glancing up at the alien leading the way, she watched his white hair sway as he walked. It was long, reaching below his hips.

It was rare to find people on Earth with hair that color. But that wasn’t the only strange thing about him. The white tattoos all over his body seemed to be embedded underneath his skin. She couldn’t be quite sure…she’d have to go up close to see and she wasn’t doing that.

Apart from that, he had that large gem in the middle of his forehead and she wondered what that was used for.

Gripping the bag a little tighter in her palm, she frowned slightly.

It was strange that she was willfully following an alien to God-knows-where after being abducted and treated like a slave by other aliens.

What made this one so trustworthy?

She wasn’t taking any chances and she wouldn’t be letting her guard down.

She could still remember it as if it was yesterday.

She’d just left the jiu-jitsu gym, having changed into sweats and a sports bra, her red hair in a bun and hard rock blaring in her headphones as she’d trekked home.

She liked to walk home after a good workout. It was a nice way to let her muscles cool down after the pressure she’d put them through.

It had been late and she’d just crossed the parking lot of her California apartment when she’d fainted.

At least, she’d thought that’s what happened. Next thing she knew, she’d woken up in a room, a cell, with a slug-like Isclit and a guard that looked like an alligator walking upright.

They’d implanted the translator behind her ear, verified that she was female, then thrown her into a huge glass box—a terrarium.

She’d met the other female humans there and something else—a frickin’ T-Rex and a saber-tooth tiger.

Then she’d been auctioned and thrown into another cell.

Somehow, she didn’t remember much of what happened after that. She vaguely remembered wondering if the other women were alright and somehow knowing with clarity that they were okay.

She’d been all alone in that cell…well, that’s what she remembered. It all seemed foggy and there was a distinct feeling as if she hadn’t been alone. But she didn’t—couldn’t—remember anyone or anything else being in the cell with her.

Staring now into the back of the alien in front of her, her frown deepened.

Why did she feel as if this wasn’t the first time they’d been alone together?

It was ludicrous but she couldn’t explain it.

Her brain had felt foggy ever since the Isclit ship was stormed by the members of Restitution and she and the other women had been rescued.

Sighing, she pushed the thoughts away.

She could only deal with the present and the present right now wasn’t very positive.

Well…it could be worse. They could have died.

Glancing ahead, she realized she was lagging behind. She was fit, but the sand was quite loose. Added to that, the fact that she was barefoot wasn’t helping.

“Do you need me to carry you?” Yce’s voice reached her ear and she realized he had stopped further ahead and was frowning at her.

“I most definitely do not!”

He either did not hear the annoyance in her voice or he was ignoring it.

“We need to make haste,” he said, and she realized he was somewhat annoyed. Well, big whoop. He’d just have to deal with it.

“And here I was thinking we were on a leisurely stroll.” She cut him a look.

He blinked at her.

“We are not safe. This isn’t the time for leisure.”

This time, Diana rolled her eyes.

“Let me guess, sarcasm isn’t very common where you come from.”

“Sarcasm?”

“Yes. You know, saying something when you actually mean the opposite…” She finally caught up with him and huffed as she looked up at him. As her eyes met his, she was momentarily silenced.

The gem in his forehead pulsed with a soft yellow and blue as he frowned at her.

Blinking, Diana looked away, suddenly feeling small beside the hunky alien.

And she was no small lady. Standing at five feet eleven, she’d always been proud of her height. Her long legs had been a great tool when she used to kick-box and they looked damn good in skinny jeans.

This guy though, he was towering over her. Just how tall was he?

“Why not just say what you mean?”

His question brought her back to the present. He seemed genuinely interested in her answer, which surprised her a little.

“Because sometimes sarcasm is funnier,” she said, plopping down on the sand.

He seemed to consider that for a moment.

“What are you doing?” he asked after a while.

“Well, you’re complaining that I’m slow but you are wearing boots,” she answered, feeling in the sack for the towel she’d put in there earlier.

She watched his head bend slowly as he looked down at his feet.

Pulling out the towel, she tried to rip it in two while trying not to pay attention to the blue giant that was now stooping beside her.

Dropping his cloth bag, he reached for her foot.

The contact of his skin against hers made her jump and pull her foot away, causing him to cock his head to one side.

“Just what are you doing?” She looked at him incredulously.

“Your feet,” he said, his white gaze falling back to her feet as he reached for a foot again.

This time, she let him take her foot into his hand.

He turned it over from side to side before looking at the sole.

“It’s bruised,” he said matter-of-factly, raising his eyes to hers.

“Just the way I like it,” she said, as she bit the towel, still trying to rip it. It was made of some kind of material that wouldn’t frickin’ budge.

He seemed concerned by the bruises but Diana chose to ignore him. The sand was coarse like sharp grit so she wasn’t surprised her feet were protesting.

Glancing at him as he released her foot, she noticed he was frowning slightly again before the frown disappeared.

“Sarcasm?” he asked.

Diana breathed out a short sigh. “Yes, Spock.”

He blinked as his frown returned.

“My name is Yce,” he said.

Rolling her eyes, Diana let out an exasperated growl at the fabric.

Outstretching his hand, Yce took the towel from her and ripped it in two easily.

“This is what you wanted to do, yes?” he asked, his white eyes focusing on hers.

“Y-yes.” Diana frowned, taking the halves of the towel away from him begrudgingly. She didn’t like it when their eyes met. His white irises were unnerving...yet, at the same time, they were so very interesting.

“Why rip the fabric?” he asked as he watched her size up the ripped towel.

“I need it for this,” she answered, as she wrapped the first half around her bruised foot. It would provide little protection but it was better than nothing.

He seemed to realize what she was doing and stood, surveying the area.

“We head west,” he said.

“Ok,” she answered, tying the towel tightly around her other foot. “How do you know which way to go?”

He didn’t answer and she glanced up at him to realize he was pointing at his head. No, actually, he was pointing at the gem in his head.

“Ah, I see. I left mine at home,” she said as she stood.

He stared at her for a moment before she saw a shadow of a smile pass over his features.

“Let’s go,” he said.

“Lead the way.”

Pausing to glance at her feet, Yce raised his eyes to hers and stared at her for a second. He looked at her strangely, but it lasted for only a second before he turned and began walking again.

Chapter Five

He’d been right.

There was a sandstorm, and it was heading their way.

Glancing behind her, Diana cursed underneath her breath.

It looked like a scene from The Mummy, only without the face coming to devour them whole.

It was a wall of thick, brown sand heading their way, and it was coming fast.

Ahead, Yce was pushing forward and she realized that was all they could do. As far as she could see, there was no shelter anywhere.

This planet was shit.

It only took a few minutes for the sand wall to catch up to them and, when it hit, it was like a swarm of minuscule bullets swarming around her and hitting her from every possible direction.

Muffling a growl of frustration, Diana swallowed hard and focused on trying to see ahead. But the sudden brunt of sand in the air made it difficult to see anything.

Stretching one hand forward to guide her, she pushed on, only to feel her hand land on something hard—something hard like muscle.

Realizing her palm was pressed right against one of his pectorals, she made to pull her hand away when her wrist was grasped and she was pulled forward.

Time stood still for a little, with sand swarming all around them, as she landed against his chest.

Moving his head to her ear, Yce shielded his mouth with a hand and spoke.

“You cannot handle this weather. I will carry you,” he said.

Oh no, he wouldn’t.

Aware he wouldn’t be able to see her expression properly, Diana stood on tiptoes, gripping his biceps for stability and leverage as she raised herself high enough to return the favor and whisper in his ear.

“Don’t you fucking dare,” she whispered.

* * *

She suddenly wished she hadn’t ripped the towel and placed it over her feet. At least, she could have used it now to wrap around her head and shield her face from the sand.

She could hardly see anything in front of her; it was all just swirling sand. If it wasn’t for Yce’s stark white hair, she was sure she wouldn’t even know which direction to follow. She could just about make him out amidst the brown particles thickening the air.

What’s more was that the sand stung as it hit her skin. She was sure she’d be bruised all over later.

She wondered what he would think about that.

She knew he didn’t like the fact that she was there.

Well, she didn’t like the fact that she was there either. Who would have guessed?

At least, he was trying to be civil about it. Nevertheless, his constant offers to carry her made her want to slap him pink.

She could take care of herself, thank you very much.

She knew taking up his offer would only cement the fact that he thought she was a liability.

She was a lot of things, but she definitely wasn’t that.

She was trudging behind him, one hand holding the cloth bag tightly while the other shielded her eyes as she tried to make him out ahead, and, for a second, he disappeared.

Cursing underneath her breath, Diana pushed forward, hoping to see the telltale white hair amidst the brown swirling sand. But as she moved further, she couldn’t make him out.

Out of nowhere, a strong hand enclosed around her arm and pulled her to the side.

Instinctively, she grabbed at the arm and was about to do one of the take-down jiu-jitsu moves she’d learned when she landed against a hard, blue, chest.

Momentarily at a loss for words, she stared up at him in shock.

This dude really gotta stop doing this.

One thing was immediately noticeable; they weren’t in the sandstorm anymore. They were in some sort of cave.

Diana stepped back from his grasp before clearing her throat, her eyes immediately scouring the cave’s dim interior.

Just outside, the swarming sand whistled and hissed.

“We rest here,” Yce said.

The cave seemed to go back a bit but the further it went, the darker it became.

“This is an abandoned sand-cat cave. We should be safe till nightfall,” Yce said as he dropped his sack and began rummaging in it. “We have to travel at night time. So, rest now.”

Staring deep into the cave’s darkness, she knew it was best not to go exploring. Instead, she stepped to the other side away from Yce.

The cave was small, he was still just an arm’s length away, but the distance would be enough. Sliding to the floor, she took a second to take a breather. Trudging through the sand was hard all on its own without the disturbance of the sandstorm.

With the storm, it was like treading through deep water in the middle of a hurricane. She was happy for the little rest.

“Why travel at night?” she asked absentmindedly as she watched him. He’d taken a long blade from his bag before sitting on his haunches.

“This planet’s inhabitants tend to hunt at night. It is better to be awake when they are, lest you become dinner.”

Just grand.

This planet was definitely not in any space tourism magazines.

Well, she didn’t just fall from space in an extremely damaged ship and brave a sandstorm to be eaten for dinner. If anyone was eating dinner, it would be her eating one of them instead.

She dared them. She fucking dared them.

“What type of inhabitants?” She watched curiously as he ran the blade across a smaller one and realized he was sharpening it.

“Sand cats. Zehmips. Those are the two we have to worry most about for now.”

Diana nodded as if she knew exactly what those were.

She watched him work in silence and as the minutes ticked by, it was almost as if he was in the cave by himself. Yet, that same sense of familiarity she felt before returned.

There was something incredibly familiar about him. How? She didn’t quite understand.

The first time she’d seen him was when the members of his team had stormed the Isclit ship.

Xul, a bull-like alien and the leader of his squadron, had been there along with Athena, a human who’d ended up turning her circumstances and joining the rescue attempt. They’d camouflaged themselves, infiltrated the ship, planted bombs, then rescued the rest of the team, as well as the humans, from the cells.

The members of his team had fought phenomenally…but Yce…there was something about Yce. Something she couldn’t quite put her finger on.

He wasn’t looking her way and she took the opportunity to stare at him intently, thoughts swirling in her head.

What was it?

In a way, she was glad he seemed so absorbed with his task. It meant she didn’t have to put up with useless small talk or other conversation. He was focusing on the blade and the sound of the metals scraping together permeated the sound of the sandstorm just outside the cave.

As she watched his big hands move, she frowned. Yes. He did seem familiar.

Seeming to sense her focused stare, he finally looked across at her.

“You should rest,” he said.

“And you too,” she replied.

“I will keep watch.”

“Then so will I.”

His eyes narrowed slightly and Diana raised an eyebrow.

If this was a battle of wills, she would win. He had no idea how stubborn she could be.

There was a pause as she regarded him, her eyes roving over his tattoos and then finally settling on the gem in his head, frowning as she did so.

“Why do you seem so familiar?” It was a thought that manifested itself into speech.

He continued staring at her, then blinked once.

Again, his white gaze was unnerving. She wanted to look away but couldn’t.

“I feel like we’ve been in a situation like this before.” She pushed on. “I feel like I’ve been around you before. It sounds stupid but…”

“You have,” he said, uttering the two words so suddenly that his admission surprised her.

Diana’s eyelids fluttered. “I have?”

“Yes. On the Isclit ship. You were placed in my cell.”

Her brows furrowed immediately. As far as she could remember, she had been in the cell alone.

But then something one of the other human women had said just before the Elysium was attacked came back to her.

“It almost seems like a dream,” she’d muttered to Piper, one of the other human abductees. “I was in a cell alone.”

She remembered Piper frowning as she’d looked at her strangely. “No, you weren’t,” Piper had said.

“What do you mean I was placed in your cell? I don’t remember being placed in a cell with anyone.”

“I know,” he answered, his face unreadable.

“You’re confusing me.”

The pants he was wearing rustled as his arms brushed over the fabric. Resting the blades to his side, he looked at her intently.

“I am an Arois,” he said.

Diana’s frown deepened. “Am I supposed to know what that means?”

“I suppose not. Your planet has not explored much as yet.”

Diana waited for him to continue, feeling her impatience grow.

“I…” He seemed to pause for a second as if he was trying to find the right words to say. “My abilities can alter one’s memories and one’s perception of reality.”

She could feel her brows diving slowly toward her nose. Just what was he getting at and what did he mean by his…abilities?

When he didn’t continue, she raised an eyebrow, her face stern. “Abilities?”

“I am an Arois,” he repeated. “We…my people are…” He seemed to be searching for words again. “Gifted with the power of the mind.”

Was that some way of saying he was smart?

“You’re going to have to spell it out for me.”

“Psychic abilities.” The gem in his forehead swirled blue and white as he watched her.

Her eyebrows stopped their nosedive to raise high in her forehead. And, for some reason, she knew he wasn’t joking.

“You were thrown into my cell,” he continued. “I was meant to be alone. For the mission.” He paused again. “Distractions make it difficult for me to focus over large distances.”

Diana blinked rapidly. He still wasn’t making any sense—or maybe she was refusing to believe what he was trying to say.

“Go on…” She could almost feel the hardness creeping into her voice.

He blinked at her again and she could see the gem in his forehead swirling with more colors. He was thinking about something…or sensing something. One or the other, she didn’t care. He needed to explain things—clearly.

“I meant you no harm,” he said.

There was a momentary silence in the cave, the only sound being the sandstorm wailing outside.

“Are you trying to tell me I was thrown in a cell with you for how many days and I don’t remember any of it because you…altered my perception of reality?” She frowned as she said it. It wasn’t even believable. But so many things had been unbelievable up to this point.

“Yes,” he answered so simply, it made her fume.

“You what?!”

He paused and blinked at her obvious anger. “It was best for both of us.”

Diana’s eyelids fluttered. “Just…just how did you even do that?!”

“I am an Arois,” he said again, as if that explained everything.

She could feel her anger flare and she didn’t even care to hide it. “I don’t care what you are! I want to know why I remember hardly anything at all!” Her hands balled into fists. “I certainly don’t remember you. At least, not fully and I feel like I was in that cell for days!”

“Your perception was altered.”

“You mean you altered it…” She seethed. “Just how?”

Her mind couldn’t wrap around the thought.

He blinked once and did not reply.

Instead, he moved toward her, a hand outstretched.

“What are you doing?” She stiffened, staring at his outstretched hand.

“I will show you,” he said.

They stared at each other for a few silent moments.

Then, when she didn’t resist further, he closed the distance to rest his palm against her forehead.

She was about to slap his hand away and tell him to stop playing games when she felt a pulsing in her head.

Then, her eyes fluttered closed and it happened.

She remembered...well, it was hard to explain.

It wasn’t exactly a memory. Instead, it was like watching a movie.

She saw herself being thrown into the cell. That brought a familiar feeling as if her body remembered the event but not her mind.

Then, when she’d turned around, there’d been him. Yce.

He’d been standing in the cell.

She saw him regard her for a bit as she had crouched into a stance to defend herself should he attack.

But he hadn’t. He hadn’t needed to.

Instead, she watched as the energy left her bones and she went limp on the floor, as if asleep.

He’d walked over to her then, lifted her, and brought her to rest on some kind of slab that was in the corner of the room.

The scene seemed to speed up then, but she saw herself, living as if in a trance, doing the motions but not really being there.

She’d used the dent in the floor they called a toilet, she’d eaten, she’d slept, she’d wept...

The only thing was, she didn’t remember any of it.

Not one bit.

As the pressure on her forehead subsided and she felt him move away from her, Diana squeezed her eyes shut. It all made sense yet it was so hard to believe. But at least it explained why she felt as if she had been around him for some time before. She’d always trusted her gut and her gut told her he was telling the truth.

“You have powers that can do that?” she asked, finally opening her eyes to stare at him. She could feel the rage building inside and when it finally spilled over, she knew she wasn’t going to hide it.

“Yes,” he answered. “It is a power inherent to my kind. All Arois can.”

She didn’t give a shit if all Arois could. Just because you could do something didn’t mean that you should do it.

“You know what you did was to essentially drug me, right?!” she said through gritted teeth.

“Drug?” He looked surprised.

“You altered my mind. Went in my head without my permission!”

That seemed to silence him and he just stared at her, his gem pulsing as he regarded her.

She felt absolutely violated.

To think that full days of her life had been taken away from her without her permission, it brought a wave of anger she thought she had buried a long time ago.

She didn’t like losing control. She hated it. Absolutely hated it! It brought back memories—memories of a stepfather that had used his degree in psychology to mess with a young, defenseless girl. Memories of a man who had come into her room every night. Memories of being too afraid to tell anyone because of all the scary repercussions he had instilled in her mind.

She had vowed to never let anyone get in her head the way he had. And yet, it had happened when she had least expected and in the most unexpected of ways.

Her stepfather was the reason she had eventually found her strength. He was the reason she had a black belt. He was the reason she did kick-boxing. He was the reason she did jiu-jitsu.

It had taken years to heal. Grueling years and many failed relationships as a result.

But she’d finally found herself and security in the fact that she could feel secure in being in control. At twenty-seven years old, she was her own woman.

Diana O’Neal was no one’s pushover.

It was her life. Her mind.

But now, this alien had been in her head, in her domain, and she had been completely unaware of it!

“Don’t you ever, EVER, do that again,” she spoke through gritted teeth, sure the anger was represented all across her face, as she clenched her fists.

The cave suddenly felt cold as a chill passed through the air.

At that moment, she could only feel one emotion.

Maybe it was the fact that she’d been taken away from her home by aliens and he was an alien too. It was like these aliens just thought they could do whatever they wanted.

Hate.

Hate was what she felt.

She’d felt it on the ship as she’d watched the Tasqals attack and it was back again.

But now the hate was directed at him.

She hated him.

Chapter Six

The human was angry.

Angry at him.

But he didn’t quite understand why.

She was so angry, she had put up an ice wall in front of herself.

He could feel her mental distance. He didn’t need to enter her mind to find out what she was thinking.

Reasoning with her when she was in such a mood was futile.

He’d better not try.

He was pretty sure even opening his mouth would make things worse.

She kept her cold gaze on him as he took up his blade and began sharpening it again.

Maybe he shouldn’t have been so honest.

Maybe he should have kept his mouth shut.

He just hadn’t expected her to respond in the way that she had.

She was still seething even now, her cold blue gaze cutting into him like shards of ice.

It was anger…and hate?

But why? Surely humans were a reasonable species, reasonable enough to understand that without his absolute focus communicating with all the members of the Restitution, the mission would have been much riskier than it was.

He’d needed to concentrate on even the smallest of details. It wasn’t something that was easy to do, especially when another being was close by drawing his attention.

His tasks had been many.

He’d had to keep the Isclits from suspecting Xul was undercover. He’d had to bend the Isclit’s minds as well so they would take them as prisoners.

When Crex had gone berserk, he’d had to manipulate the Isclits as best as he could. He’d also had to manipulate the Hedgerud guards to let Xul back on the ship. Plus, apart from all that, he had been communicating between all members of the team, as well as Kyro, who had been on the Elysium.

There had been a lot at stake.

There hadn’t been room for him to make any mistakes.

Xul had trusted him to do it. His psionic powers allowed him to manipulate the minds of almost all beings in the universe…possibly all beings except other Arois. He had yet to find a being whose mind he couldn’t infiltrate.

After the human had been thrown in his cell, fighting like an angry shnek on a rainy day, he knew that he had to do it.

Apart from the fact that he’d have to concentrate on communicating with Xul when he was off the ship, plus Kyro on the Elysium and the other members of the Restitution on the Isclit ship, he hadn’t been prepared to deal with the distraction of the being they had unceremoniously thrown in his cell.

The decision had been easy.

Alter her reality until they left the ship.

It wouldn’t take much of his resources and would be easier than if she was aware of his presence.

But now, that same being was sitting across from him with such strong thoughts he wondered should he give her the blade he was sharpening if she would try to slice his neck with it.

He wouldn’t put it past her.

Yce’s shoulders rose and fell in a sigh.

Maybe it was for the best.

Two of his team members had already been caught in the web of this species. Human women were dangerous. Unpredictable. He didn’t know what guiles they had, but he should be careful.

Now wasn’t the time for romance or getting close to anyone.

It wouldn’t be good for either of them.

Plus, he wasn’t interested—captivating hjek-colored hair and blue eyes or not.

So her hatred was welcome.

Maybe it would make the journey easier.

Yet…for some reason, it disturbed him. Her anger towards him made him slightly uncomfortable.

And, though he was trying not to face it, something inside him didn’t want the hjek-haired human to hate him.

* * *

The sandstorm couldn’t end quickly enough. She needed to get out of this constricted place and out in the fresh air, preferably away from Big Blue but, well, she’d just have to put up with him till they get to the outpost or wherever.

What a dick, using the mission as an excuse. Maybe in his culture, it was okay to just manipulate someone else’s mind without their permission, but where she came from that was absolutely NOT okay.

Diana huffed out a breath. She’d been shooting daggers at him for so long that her head was beginning to hurt. What was more infuriating was that he hadn’t apologized. He hadn’t even faced her gaze since they’d argued. He’d just sat there, sharpening his blade, looking like some forbidden sex elf or something.

Utterly frustrating.

Raking her hands through her hair, her fingers immediately became tangled and her anger surged again fueled by annoyance.

Her hair was filled with sand. Filled with it!

Groaning in frustration, she bent her head and shook her hair. Some sand fell out but not nearly enough.

When she raised her head again, she realized he was looking at her. Narrowing her eyes at him, she cut him a look.

“What are you looking at?”

He didn’t answer.

“You aliens just feel like you rule the universe, don’t you? Do what you want. Abduct who you want. Destroy what you want. Control what and who you want.” She frowned as she pulled her gaze away from him.

Looking at him was infuriating her even more. He was expressionless, yet somehow managing to look completely innocent and non-confrontational.

Shaking her hair again, she tried to dislodge some more of the sand. If she didn’t get it out, she was sure her hair would end up clumping together.

Raking her fingers through the strands wasn’t really helping. She needed a comb and she wasn’t going to get that anywhere.

“Use this,” he said, and she cut him another look that could kill.

As her gaze fell on his outstretched hand, her frown deepened and her anger flared again.

He was outstretching something that looked like fish bones but she wasn’t an idiot, it was obvious what it was.

A comb.

Raising her icy eyes to his, she tried to get the words out in a level voice.

“Don’t tell me you were in my head again.”

“I wasn’t,” he said innocently.

Ignoring the comb in his outstretched hand, she continued using her fingers to rake through her hair.

She didn’t need his so-called generosity.

He crouched and made to come closer, but Diana was quicker. Grabbing the small blade she’d stuffed in her bag, she pointed the sharp edge towards him.

“I swear to God. If you so much as come an inch closer, I will cut your balls off.”

Yce’s white gaze dropped to the blade then rose.

“Balls?” he asked.

Diana’s eyes narrowed. “Your nuts. Your jewels. Your gems between your thighs.” She frowned, blade still pointed in his direction. “Don’t tell me you don’t have balls. Your nuts. I’m talking about your nuts.”

Blinking, his gaze dropped to his pants and Diana’s hand wavered as her gaze followed his.

“Oh,” he said, raising his gaze back to hers. “My syenges. I have two.”

She could feel her cheeks getting warm as her hand wavered again. He said it as if it was nothing—as if he wasn’t talking about his sex organs.

He kept his hand outstretched for a few more moments before realizing she was making no move to take the comb from him. Pulling it back and returning to his previous position, he stuffed the comb back into his bag.

The gem in his head was pulsing again as he stared her in the eyes, ignoring the blade in her hands.

He seemed to smile briefly then he was back to sharpening his own blade.

They sat in silence for a few minutes, with Diana seething. Returning the small blade to her bag, she went back to trying to rid her hair of the sand.

“I do not usually disclose when I have been in a being’s mind,” Yce finally said, causing her to raise her blue gaze to his white.

“What do you mean by that?” She really wasn’t in the mood for talking to him but what he was saying intrigued her.

“It is not usually…necessary,” he said.

Diana bit back a retort as she cast her eyes at the darkness deep into the cave.

“Your species is…” He paused.

“What?” Her icy gaze flew back to his as her anger surged. “Strange? Feeble? Fragile?”

“No.” His answer surprised her, momentarily making her lose her resolve. “Your species is…emotional,” he finished.

Diana laughed a mirthless laugh. “Well, if that isn’t a guy thing to say I don’t know what is. I suppose you’re wondering if it’s my time of the month as well?” She sneered, rolling her eyes before turning her focus on her hair again.

“Time of the month?” he asked.

“Forget it.”

“I am not aware of times of the month where one is particularly emotional.”

She could hear him shuffle from where he was sitting, but she didn’t look to see what he was doing. She didn’t care.

The sooner they were away from this situation and she was reunited with the other women, she’d be okay. She was so done with space exploration, aliens, and unknown planets.

Those women were the only ones in this part of the universe that she had any connection to at all—the only human people on the same planet as her.

It was a strange feeling. A lonely one.

To think she’d thought life on Earth was shit. What she wouldn’t give to be back there right now? Suddenly her overly expensive California apartment and job as a fitness trainer didn’t seem so bad.

“Aah!” She pulled at her hair in frustration, finally leaning back against the sand wall as she let her arms fall to her sides.

It was no use. Her hair was tangled. She might actually have to cut it all off.

This whole experience was just getting more and more annoying by the minute.

Frowning, she crossed her arms across her chest and glanced over at Yce, her frown deepening as she did.

He was sitting cross-legged, his eyes closed. But the gem on his head was glowing white and the tattoos under his skin also seemed to be doing the same.

He did look like some kind of ethereal god…a handsome ethereal sex God. She scowled at herself at the thought.

She was angry at him, hated him at this moment even, but it was hard not acknowledging the fact that he was a cross between Superman and the frickin’ Witcher, with a face to match. Now that he wasn’t looking at her, she could stare at him without him noticing and she hated that she was enjoying what she was seeing.

He had a chiseled jaw framing a handsome face over a body that seemed to be formed by Zeus.

Damn.

She hated him even more for looking good. Why couldn’t he look like Gollum from the Lord of the Rings? Or Jabba the Hutt? Heck, she’d rejoice if he looked disgusting like Jabba.

She wouldn’t be sitting there hating him and enjoying the way he looked at the same time. She could just hate him freely and wholly.

But just what was he doing?

It had something to do with his powers, obviously. Psychic powers. She had never believed in such things but when someone walked around with a huge gem glowing in their forehead, it was hard not to believe such things were possible. Especially when that same someone had just shown you a part of your life that you had no memory of.

She wanted to ask him what he was doing but, at the same time, she didn’t want to disturb this weird alien ritual. And she certainly didn’t want to be cordial with him.

Not when she hated him.

Because she did hate him, right?

Staring at him now, she remembered how he’d fought on the ship with the other members of the Restitution, how dangerous it had been to get her and the other women rescued, and how he’d trusted her to steer the Elysium when they were being chased.

He hadn’t seemed bad. Then why had he been such a dick on the Isclit ship? Controlling her mind when she didn’t even know he had been doing so?

Thinking of it again made her angry all over again.

Well, this journey would soon be over and then she could be rid of his presence.

He was a dick and she didn’t put up with dicks that she hated.

Handsome ethereal God or not.

Chapter Seven

The sandstorm was finally slowing down and Yce was standing by the cave mouth, looking outside.

Diana watched him with interest. After his glow fest, which seemed to go on for well over an hour, he’d finally opened his eyes and the glowing had stopped.

Funny he would choose to do something like that when she’d threatened him with a blade not long before. Did he not realize she’d been serious?

She wouldn’t hesitate to defend herself if she needed to.

“We should start moving now,” he said.

Right.

They needed to leave the cave and continue heading toward the outpost. That was their goal and that was what she was looking forward to.

Getting to the outpost meant freedom. At least, that’s what she hoped.

Nothing seemed to work the way it should in this part of the universe.

It was getting dark; she could already see that the twin suns were no longer high in the sky.

“Are you sure it’s safe to go trudging around at night?”

He turned to glance at her, adjusting the bag over his shoulder.

“It’s the safest way to go. The predators are many and at night they are awake,” he said. “Sleeping while they are awake is dangerous.”

Nodding, Diana stood and brushed the sand off her pants.

Fine, time to go.

Briefly checking the towels wrapped around her feet to ensure they were still secure, she approached Yce, who was still standing by the cave mouth.

Standing behind him, it was again impressed on her that he towered over her.

And his hair, so white and straight.

Touching hers, she sighed. Tangled and still full of sand.

She didn’t want to imagine what she looked like.

As they stepped out into the open, thin sand was still swirling in the air.

“Follow close by me,” he said, before moving off.

Diana frowned but did what he asked.

It was getting dark fast and with the darkness came cold.

This planet.

The days seemed to be scorching hot and as soon as the suns disappeared the land got cold.

Even now, so quickly after the suns’ departure, she could feel the sand was noticeably cooler than it had been when she’d first stepped into it.

That probably meant the planet didn’t have much of an atmosphere.

They walked in silence for a few minutes, with Diana trying to keep up.

Despite that she had wrapped her feet, the sand was managing to get through the fabric and it was rubbing against her soles, irritating the bruises that were already there.

It was coarser than sand on earth, which was probably why it was affecting her feet so.

But she wasn’t going to complain.

Her feet were aching but she could manage to walk. She had to.

There didn’t seem to be any structures in this vast desert in which to stop and rest and she wasn’t about to tell he-who-should-not-be-liked that she was in pain. Plus, they’d already rested in the cave during the sandstorm. Stopping again would only slow down their progress.

However, despite that she was walking considerably slower than before, she realized she was keeping up with him.

Diana eyed his back as he walked ahead.

Was he walking deliberately slowly so she could keep up?

She hoped not.

Pushing forward, she increased her pace.

They were walking in complete darkness but she didn’t need to ask why he hadn’t lit a torch—that’s if he had a torch to light.

Any light would be obvious in this wasteland. It would not only notify predators of their presence, but it would also let any Tasqal scouts spot them way too easily.

And that’s exactly what they didn’t want.

Right now, the darkness was their best camouflage.

But it was cold. So cold.

Diana gritted her teeth and pushed on. She’d just think of this as intensive training…like shock therapy or something.

Yce paused suddenly in front of her and she almost bumped into his hard back.

“Sand cats,” he said…or did he? She definitely heard his voice, but it didn’t seem like he had opened his mouth.

But before she could think about it, a loud snarl came from somewhere close.

* * *

The cats were surrounding them. From what he could sense, there were probably five of them.

They were dangerous, these cats. Big, fast, and hunting in packs, they were skilled hunters that managed to thrive in this desert wasteland.

He could manage on his own, but now, the soft body that had bumped into him from behind was the center of his worry.

She didn’t know about these animals.

She was a fighter, he knew. Or rather, she had a terrible temper.

The fact that she’d pointed a blade at him and threatened him had been hilarious, but he hadn’t dared to laugh.

Humans, he realized, were unpredictable.

He wasn’t sure about her skills in defending herself though, and that made this tricky.

On his own, he could take them out easily. But with someone else in the picture, now he had something else to worry about.

He didn’t like connecting with animals, but maybe he’d have to tame them using his mind this time. Animals’ minds were different from more intelligent species. It sort of mangled his brains to enter theirs. It was uncomfortable and he didn’t like it but if he had to, he would.

“Where are they?” Her voice reached his ear and mildly surprised him. There was no terror there. Wasn’t she afraid?

“They are approaching, stalking,” he replied.

“I can’t see them,” she said, shuffling in her sack and he realized she was taking out the small blade.

That blade would do nothing against these cats. Not that she’d have to do anything. He would take care of them himself.

“How many?” she asked.

“Five,” he replied, a slight frown forming on his forehead. She wasn’t thinking of fighting them with that small weapon, was she?

Was she insane?

“Tell me what to do,” she said.

He’d learned her sarcasm and that wasn’t sarcasm.

“You do nothing,” he said, turning to face her as another snarl came from somewhere close by. “I will handle it.”

“Right.” She wasn’t looking at him. Instead, she was squinting at the darkness, obviously trying to make out the predators.

This human...this female...this woman...

He could feel frustration starting to build within him.

He was just about to argue with her when he heard…no, it was as if he felt the air move as the first cat pounced.

Sliding his blade from his sack in one movement, he slashed through the air, slicing the cat right up the mid-section.

The large animal fell to the ground beside them and he heard the human gasp.

“Fuck! This thing is huge!” She stared down at it for a second before her wild eyes returned to the darkness.

Still, he sensed no terror.

He was right. Maybe she was insane.

Taking down one of the cats didn’t deter the other four, however, as all four charged at them at once.

“Get down!” he shouted as he got ready for his second attack.

But it was hard to concentrate on protecting the human when she obviously wasn’t listening!

When he said get down, she’d gotten down alright, but not in the way he’d expected.

She was in some weird kind of crouch that looked much like a fighting position.

But he didn’t have time to berate her. A cat was coming directly at him.

Charging at the animal, his blade caught between the animal’s teeth as it grabbed the metal and snarled at him. Shaking its head hard, it tried to dislodge the blade from his hands. But he was stronger.

Raising a leg, he kicked the beast in its belly, pulling on his blade at the same time. The blade dislodged and he drove it forward, deep into the beast’s mouth.

Instant death.

But a glance behind him almost made his blood go cold.

The human was in the sand being torn apart by a sand cat.

Fear clenched him as he rushed forward, slicing another cat in the process and taking it down.

But as he approached the human, he realized he was wrong.

She wasn’t being torn apart.

Instead, she had her body wrapped around the animal, the huge head of the sand cat held in what looked like a chokehold and both were snarling…the woman and the cat.

And it hit him immediately that she looked exactly like a cat…a hjek-haired, feral, snarling cat.

The sand cat was growling and trying to release itself, but she’d managed to get a good hold on it and she was snarling right back and calling the thing names in her language that he could not understand.

This woman was...

As the last cat came charging toward him and jumped on his back, Yce gripped the thing by the shoulders and did a somersault. The movement brought them both down in the sand, and in the animal’s confusion, he buried his blade deep into its chest.

Raising his head, he brought his worried gaze back to the human. She was still struggling in the sand with the animal. Still cursing. Still snarling. Still angry.

Still…wild.

He knew he was staring but what he was seeing was unbelievable.

She still had the animal in a chokehold, its paws in the air, the sharp claws unable to reach her.

He realized she’d buried the small blade into the animal’s neck but the blade was far too small to do fatal damage.

Walking over to her, he paused to look down at her, his eyes reflecting exactly what he felt.

Wonder.

This woman was...wrestling? She was wrestling with the sand cat?

If it was other circumstances, he’d have taken the time to watch the spectacle in front of him, amazed by the occurrence.

He was just about to help out when the human spoke.

“A little help here, Witcher,” she spoke through gritted teeth, grunting with exertion.

“Ah,” he said, unable to resist as a soft smile graced his lips. “I was just going to stand here and watch.”

He could hear her snarl again.

“Sarcasm is my thing. Not yours,” she grunted. “Fuck! Kill this bitch!”

Raising his blade, he sliced the sand cat’s throat and blood immediately ran from the animal and down on the woman beneath.

He heard her curse again as she released the dead animal and rose to her feet.

As she stood, the darkness did nothing to hide what was in front of him.

The shirt she’d been wearing had been thoroughly ripped. And now, instead of the fabric that had once been there, her skin was exposed.

They were there. Big, round, and jiggling as she dusted the sand from her pants, her movements punctuated by her curses.

Back on the Isclit ship, he had not looked at her naked body. It would have been wrong to do so. Even though he’d had the chance to, he’d kept his eyes to himself.

But now, in front of him, she was awake. She was herself. And she was there.

The females on his planet had similar chests, raised and protruding, but not nearly as large. But the human’s were not only raised and protruding, they were bouncing as if they had independent movement, the teats on the ends hardened by the cold air.

He found himself staring for far longer than he liked. This was exactly why he needed to keep his distance.

She was too…distracting.

Seeming to finally realize her shirt was ripped, she grabbed the torn garment and a slew of more curses left her lips.

The blood of the animal was also across her chest but she seemed to not care about that.

He watched as she grabbed the ripped clothing and tried her best to tie it together. Finally satisfied that it was presentable enough, she turned her gaze to him and he was happy the shroud of darkness was there.

He’d been staring.

Unable to look away.

“Are you done?” He tried to sound as annoyed as he could, noting that his inflection just might convince her that he was.

The snarl on her face was directed at him now and dislike shone in her eyes.

Good.

He needed that.

He needed her to hate him to remind him he should focus on other things.

Not bulging chests, jiggling in his face with teats that begged to be kissed.

If she hated him, then maybe he wouldn’t go around noticing things he shouldn’t notice.

Chapter Eight

They had started walking again and the terrain wasn’t getting any easier. Coupled with the fact that her ripped shirt was making the cold get to her even more, the smell of the animal’s blood on her skin made her screw up her nose.

They trudged for what felt like hours but thankfully, no more bothersome cats came their way.

She’d grappled with the cat when it had dashed at her out of the darkness, knocking her into the sand so fast her instincts had taken over.

She’d somehow managed to grab its head before its claws had gotten to her. It had ripped her shirt, but that was better than ripping off her chest.

Holding it in a chokehold had been hard, but no harder than when she wrestled with her sparring partner back home. He was six feet four and over two-hundred pounds. If she could stand up to him, then that foolish cat had picked the wrong girl for dinner.

Squeezing its throat had felt so good. Finally, she’d been able to take out some of her anger on something.

She’d said it before and she was going to say it again.

If any of these animals thought she was going to be dinner, they had a nasty revelation ahead.

Pressing on through the sand, the first light of day appeared over the horizon. She could hardly keep her eyes open but she would continue pushing on.

As the suns rose, the desert lit up around them, but to her, everything around her might as well not be there.

They’d been walking all night. She was absolutely exhausted and the one thing she kept in front of her eyes was white hair. White hair cascading over blue skin.

He was the only thing she kept in her sights. Not because she wanted to, but because he was leading the way.

Her eyes closed every now and then and she realized she should have listened to him and taken a nap while they’d been sheltering from the sandstorm.

Now, as she tried to keep her eyelids open, the fact that the desert wasn’t safe was the only thing that kept her looking at his figure ahead.

Yce stopped about a foot in front of her as he surveyed the sky.

She couldn’t scout for Tasqal ships right now; she was way too tired. She’d leave that up to him.

“We will rest,” he said.

She hadn’t the energy to reply.

Plopping down in the sand, her feet ached and rejoiced for the momentary relief.

She didn’t dare to even look at them. She’d tend to them later.

Yce trudged a few meters away toward one of the dunes and she watched him through half-closed eyes.

Taking out his blade, he lodged it deep in the sand and Diana frowned at him, wondering what he was doing.

She watched as the dune shook and the undeniable sound of tree bark bending came from underneath.

Sitting upright, the skin on her arms prickled as the hairs rose. What the hell was happening now?

The tree-bark sound got louder as Yce stabbed the dune repeatedly, stepping back a few steps as something rose from the sand.

Diana’s eyes widened.

The thing looked like a large plant. It was a large plant.

It had an uncanny resemblance to a Venus flytrap, only much, much bigger. And on its outside, it was covered in what looked like thick, woolly hair.

As its stalk stretched out, she realized the thing stood several meters in the air, but as its stalk stretched, Yce slid his blade through the center, cutting the thing down before it could fully awaken.

Diana stared, sleep forgotten.

He’d mentioned two things to be aware of in this world: sand cats and zehmips. She reckoned she’d just been introduced to the second one.

As he chopped off the plant’s head and stripped it of its woolly coat, Diana crept forward.

“This thing,” she said, looking around. “These dunes…”

“They are sleeping zehmips,” he said.

Her eyes widened some more.

There were dunes spotting all over the desert. Many dunes.

That meant the desert was littered with these things?

He’d stripped the thing before he finished speaking. Dropping the woolly part to the side, he moved back to the head.

Diana stood watching him, confused and a little interested in what he was doing.

Lifting the thing, he buried the protruding teeth sections into the sand, creating a sort of tent. Next, he spread the woolly part on the inside and glanced at her.

“Go in,” he said, his gaze dropping to her chest for a second. “Rest. I will kill another zehmip so I can use its skin to catch water.” He glanced up at the sky as he said this, causing her to do the same.

“Will it rain, do you think?”

“In a few hours.” He returned his gaze to her, and again, it slipped to her chest before he frowned and brought it back to her eyes.

As he stepped off, Diana finally glanced down at herself and immediately found the reason why his gaze had been slipping.

Tying the remnants of the shirt had only accentuated her chest. Now, her breasts were pressing against the torn cloth, making it seem as if she had fashioned some sort of bandage crop top.

Sighing, she crept under the “tent,” aware she was crawling under the mouth of what she assumed was a man-eating plant.

She’d be surprised if it wasn’t man-eating.

She’d been here long enough to realize this planet wasn’t big on hospitality.

The tent was big enough to hold two people, so she was sure the thing wouldn’t have had any trouble swallowing her if it wanted to.

Thank heavens it was dead.

Falling against the woolly flooring he’d created, she realized it was the closest thing to a bed she’d felt in a long while.

And she was either incredibly exhausted, or she was losing touch with reality but the woolly flooring felt damn good.

Settling against it, she listened to the lack of sound around her. He’d said he was going to kill another of the large plant things—probably to make a tent for himself.

Most definitely to make a tent for himself. She didn’t want to be in such close quarters with him anyway.

She’d close her eyes and rest for a second.

Just a second.

Chapter Nine

He’d cut down two more zehmips and skinned them. One of the skins he’d turn inside out and hung it to catch some water in the incoming rain.

The next one he’d set to dry in the tent for the human. That way, she could use it to wrap around herself and keep warm later.

He didn’t know why he was doing it. He didn’t know why he even cared.

But something told him she might appreciate the skin as a new covering for her bountiful chest.

Yce swallowed hard as the image of her nipples reappeared in his mind.

Pert and pink, the two buds taunted him and he could feel himself respond in his pants.

Surely, this was not a sign he was heading down the same path as his brothers Xul and Crex.

Surely not.

Pulling the zehmip skins over his shoulder, he reached the tent he’d erected, very aware that it was silent inside.

Had the human run off?

He didn’t put it past her.

Everything she did was so illogical he was giving up trying to predict her next move.

Glancing inside the tent, his fears subsided.

She was lying on her back, eyes closed, obviously asleep. And rising from her chest were those two things that had his mind going places they shouldn’t. Again, just the glimpse of them sent a shockwave to his cock.

Frowning at his weakness, he rested the skins inside the tent and went to carve the remainder of the stalk that he’d left behind.

Glancing to the west, he knew he had to move fast.

The smell of rain was in the air, which meant a torrent would be coming soon.

That was the thing with Muk. Its weather was erratic. Luckily, he and the other members of his team had spent months on this planet once, forming ties with the native Mukkians. During that time, they’d learned how to survive on the planet’s surface.

Otherwise, survival here would be dim.

As he made a barricade at the entrance of the tent and stepped inside, he glanced at the human, gulping hard as he averted his gaze from her beckoning chest.

What the hell was wrong with him?

He was Yce.

Immovable Yce.

Logical Yce.

Solitary Yce.

This wouldn’t do.

He should put a stop to it.

Somehow this wild being was getting underneath his skin.

The memory of her holding the sand cat in a chokehold returned to him and he huffed out a short laugh.

She was insane. He had been right.

Illogical.

The exact opposite of him.

But it didn’t mean what she’d done hadn’t been impressive.

Shaking away the thoughts, he set up the zehmip skin to catch some water and put the other skin inside the tent to dry.

Glancing back at the human, he realized that she’d settled in the middle of the zehmip’s woolly coat, leaving no space for him to rest.

He stood and glanced around the tent. He briefly contemplated heading out again to slay another zehmip. That way, he’d have somewhere to rest as well. But the rain was close. If he left now, he would be caught outside in the torrent.

Frowning at his predicament, he glanced at Diana smack in the center of the zehmip skins.

She could have scooted to the side.

Selfish much.

Well, he guessed he’d just have to deal with it because heading out again wasn’t an option.

Lying beside her, he was careful they weren’t touching. It wasn’t her reaction to their skin against each other that bothered him but the fact that he wasn’t sure how the contact would affect him.

He was lying on his back staring up into the zehmip’s mouth when Diana groaned beside him.

Eyes flying to hers, he realized she was still asleep.

But her groan didn’t stop there.

The human squirmed, turning on her side to throw an arm over his chest.

The movement surprised him as he looked at her.

She made another sound so tantalizing he wanted to hear it again, and then she snuggled closer to him. Along with her closeness came an enticing scent. Her scent. Behind the smell of the dried blood, the smell of her skin permeated his senses.

Resting a cheek against his chest, her arm tightened around him as one of her legs draped over his.

He didn’t know what to make of it.

She surely couldn’t be asleep, could she? Had she no control over her limbs while she slumbered?

And though a part of him was telling him he should push her away, another part was mildly interested in the feelings her body was evoking against his.

Just mildly.

Settling his head back against the skins, Yce swallowed hard.

As the human snuggled closer into him, he felt himself respond. And he could feel something else. Something soft and round was squished against his chest but he dared not look down.

He knew what it was.

Her darned bosom.

He could feel himself jerk inside his pants. The sensation of her breasts against him seemed to be beckoning him to look, to acknowledge their presence in some way. But he couldn’t…well…he wouldn’t.

Glaring upwards into the mouth of the zehmip, he heard the first drops of rain hit the outside of the dead plant.

Rain.

That’s what he needed.

Something to cool him down.

But glancing at the human beside him, he didn’t dare move.

Lying frozen beneath her was all he could do while his cock strained against his trousers, aching for freedom.

Closing his eyes, he took a deep breath.

He’d meditate.

It would do him some good…especially right now.

* * *

The heavy rain woke her up with a start and Diana blinked drowsily.

She felt warm and comfortable. Maybe this place wasn’t so bad after all.

It took her a few moments to realize that whatever she was resting on was rising and falling slowly. As her vision cleared, she bolted upright, hand covering her mouth.

What the hell had she been doing?

Pulling her leg off him, Diana didn’t dare look at his face.

The embarrassment was too strong.

No wonder she’d felt so comfortable. She’d been draped around a big hunky alien as if he was her lover.

When she finally gathered the courage to look him in the eyes, she realized he seemed to be sleeping.

When did he return anyway? She didn’t remember hearing him reenter the tent and that was worrisome. How could she be so carefree in a dangerous place like this?

Well, thankfully, it seemed he was asleep so he probably didn’t realize what she had done.

She hoped he hadn’t.

Running a hand through her hair, her fingers got tangled and she sighed.

She needed to do better.

She needed to be alert; always alert.

Creeping to the entrance of the tent, she peeked through the slats of the barricade and realized that it was indeed raining outside. Hard.

Glancing up at the roof of their little tent, she was surprised it was holding up. It was pretty handy, actually.

It didn’t seem as if the rain was going to ease up anytime soon though and she didn’t think sitting in such close proximity to Big Blue was a good idea.

A look at herself and the red stains on her skin seemed to grin up at her.

Right. She’d been splattered by that large cat’s blood. She was filthy.

Glancing back outside the tent, the rain seemed to beckon her.

Well, it couldn’t hurt. It was probably the only way to shower in a place like this…and he was asleep, so she had all the privacy she needed.

With one last glance at Yce, Diana opened the barricade and slipped out into the torrent.

Chapter Ten

The rain hit her hard. It was like having a shower on maximum power. And it was cold.

But she could bear it.

She’d rather freeze a little than stay covered in animal blood for the remainder of their trek.

Slipping off the tattered shirt, she let the rain hit her skin. She could feel her nipples go hard in the cold as she shivered a little. Raising her face towards the heavens, she let the water beat down on her.

It was taking some getting used to, but the longer she stood underneath it, the more her body adjusted to the temperature.

Finally, she bent and stripped off her trousers, noting that they too were covered in blood. As she turned back to the tent to hang the trousers over it so they could get clean, she noticed the skin he’d set to gather water.

Diana scoffed.

She wasn’t going to acknowledge his handiness, especially not after draping herself over him like a needy cat.

She was naked now and she wrapped her arms around herself as she turned in the rain.

As the raindrops hit against her skin, they took away most of the blood, but she soon had to use her hands to scrub away the rest.

While at it, she scrubbed the rest of her body and was almost done when she realized something.

Squeezing her eyes shut, she muttered a curse underneath her breath.

She didn’t have any clothes to put on now. Glancing back at the trousers, she realized it was already thoroughly soaked so there was no way she was going to be wearing that anytime soon.

Biting back another curse, she shivered back to the entrance of the tent, entering the small space as quietly as she could. As she pulled the barricade back, white eyes met hers and she felt her heart do a flip inside her chest.

“You’re awake,” she muttered, trying to crouch while covering herself, albeit unsuccessfully, at the same time.

“You’re naked,” he replied.

She refrained from answering him and instead shuffled inside to sit behind him, just out of his field of vision.

Lifting a part of the bedding, he handed it to her.

“Use this, or you will catch a cold,” he said. He wasn’t looking at her.

As a matter of fact, he refrained from turning to look her way.

Frowning, Diana took the zehmip skin from him and wrapped it around herself. It was just big enough to cover her upper body. As long as she stayed crouched, then she’d be “covered.” The only problem was that she was sure as soon as the rain let up, they’d be on their way again.

His back was still turned to her. As a matter of fact, he seemed to be stiffly turned away, as if he was refusing, or at least, trying not to turn so that he wouldn’t risk looking at her.

Diana raised an eyebrow as a soft smile of disbelief threatened at the corner of her mouth.

Was he…was he trying not to look?

Did her nakedness make him nervous?

The thought was ridiculous to her, as she frowned at his back.

So he was a man…

A gallant one?

A decent one?

Not that it mattered much.

She’d never been ashamed of her nakedness. It had taken her a long time to accept her body, to accept that her curves were there, to accept that men, sometimes bad ones, would want to touch her because of her body and only because of her body.

Through therapy and through her gym sessions, she’d found her power and her strength and now her body was something she was proud of. It didn’t hinder her. It didn’t make her cower. She was as confident in her nakedness as she was while fully clothed.

But that didn’t mean she went gallivanting around naked in front of men. One didn’t need such attention. But, in case a man tried to do any funny shit because of what she was wearing…or not wearing…he would have made a bad mistake.

She was prone, very prone, to kicking them where it hurt the most.

It was only self-defense.

But this guy…no, this alien in front of her, his stiff shoulders and the fact he had averted his gaze seemed…funny.

It was strange.

She appreciated it, but still.

He didn’t need to make it so obvious.

“You washed yourself,” he finally said.

Her smile grew a little more. “Yes. I washed myself.”

He moved his head as if he nodded and then crawled to the entrance of the tent, as he looked out of the barricade.

“I should wash too,” he said.

“Huh?” Her eyes widened a little as he stood, crouching because the top of his head reached the top of the tent, and began releasing his pants.

Diana’s eyes widened and the smile fell from her lips.

It was her turn to avert her gaze, and she did.

Ok, so maybe him stiffly keeping his gaze averted before hadn’t been funny because here she was doing the same thing.

Like a virgin or something.

She heard the fabric shuffle down his legs and gulped.

Geez.

As the sound of the barricade being moved reached her ear, she chanced a glance towards the entrance of the tent and realized he’d stepped out.

She shouldn’t. She really shouldn’t. But something was moving her hands and her knees towards the entrance.

And that something was her own curiosity.

Crawling on all fours, she crept toward the barricade and peeped through.

And, mother of God…

He was standing in the rain, hands at his sides, back turned toward the tent, hair falling down his shoulders, glistening as the raindrops hit the strands.

She couldn’t see much, because of his hair in the way, but she could see enough to notice the taut muscles of his ass and his strong leg muscles.

He looked strong alright…and fit. Ridiculously fit.

She didn’t have to be attracted to him to admire his physique.

He was sculpted, built for fighting.

Her own fingers brushed over the muscles over her stomach.

She’d probably lose them soon, unless she found a way to exercise. But that was something she could worry about later.

She was still staring at his ass when he suddenly turned.

And…hail Mary mother of…

Diana’s eyes popped in their sockets.

Settled between thick, muscled thighs was…his dick…

No…his cock…

Fuck, that wasn’t a cock.

It was a dong.

Hell, it wasn’t even a dong.

It was a fucking shlong.

Hanging between his legs was the biggest, thickest cock she had ever seen in her life and she wasn’t even joking. The only thing she’d seen come close to it was a monster dildo.

Hell.

She could feel the warmth in her cheeks as she forced her eyes to rise to his face.

But thankfully, he had his head turned up to the spray and he wasn’t looking her way.

Not that he could see her, well, she hoped he couldn’t see her peeping because she wasn’t about to stop now.

Hell.

Her eyes fell to his cock once more and widened all over again.

He had gotta be kidding.

There was no way.

From what she could see, just like his upper body, those white tattoos networked all over his cock. As a matter of fact, the tattoos covered his entire body, like a swirling pattern.

But back to his cock.

Hell.

Diana leaned closer, as she tried to see more detail. Thanks to the rain, she could only see its magnificent girth and length.

It was like three stacked coke cans and he wasn’t even hard. She wondered if she’d be able to wrap her hands around it and the thought slapped her so hard the impact almost stung for real.

She could feel her blush deepen.

She was being rude.

Downright scandalous.

She really shouldn’t be looking but she wasn’t going to say she was sorry for doing so.

This…cock…was going to be filed in her memory under ‘gifts from God in this universe.’

She reckoned he wasn’t a grower because there was no way that thing could fit inside anyone then.

It would just be ridiculous.

How did he have sex anyway?

Her eyes flowed over his ripped muscles and the scandalous thoughts began again.

He must be powerful in bed. Like a real Harley revving underneath a woman. Something you just wanted to grip and ride the fuck out of.

Or maybe he was one of those men who made love soft and delicately, cradling you in their arms as he slid his cock deep, making you feel every inch of it with each passing second.

Maybe he went full hilt and then grinded into you, pulling your ass right against his crotch as he gripped you and held you there till you screamed and begged him to never let you go.

She didn’t have a preference.

Any way was good.

And with a cock like that…he could have her any way he wanted.

That thought made her freeze.

She was getting ahead of herself.

Catching herself, Diana gulped and raised her gaze.

She shouldn’t be thinking like that.

Didn’t she hate him?

But she could still feel the warmth in her cheeks and, as if it was a traitor, a throb echoed through her clit.

She was getting hot over alien dick.

Damn.

As her eyes rose to his face, they widened for another reason and she froze again.

White eyes met her blues and she couldn’t move.

He was staring right at her.

How long had he been looking?

Had he seen her staring?

Fuck.

Of course, he had.

Goddammit.

But still, she couldn’t move.

Damn.

This man…this alien…was…gorgeous.

His white hair glimmered as the raindrops hit it, and now, as her gaze fastened to his, the tattoos on his skin glowed softly as well, making him a fucking spectacle.

He wasn’t looking away. He wasn’t even moving. And she fucking hoped he wasn’t reading her mind.

Finally managing to pull herself away, Diana scrambled to the back of the tent.

Damn.

Maybe she needed another cold shower.

What had gotten into her?

Chapter Eleven

He reentered the tent a few minutes later and Diana kept herself turned away.

She wouldn’t look his way. Couldn’t.

Gripping the zehmip skin around her shoulders, she shivered a little as a sneeze left her lips.

It was cold.

She was drying, but it was happening slowly.

She could hear him moving about in the sack he had been carrying, but she still refused to look his way.

What she’d done was too embarrassing.

She didn’t regret it…but that didn’t mean she was brazen enough to pretend that she hadn’t been acting like a creep. Especially after making it clear that she hated him.

She also figured that he was still naked.

Like her, he would take some time to dry. It just wasn’t warm enough in the tent and the rain was still coming down hard, giving the atmosphere no time to warm.

Another sneeze shook her body and Diana gripped the zehmip skin tighter.

She didn’t want to catch a cold.

She just hated having a runny nose and the congestion. The congestion was the worst.

She could put up with the rest of it but she hated the congestion the most.

It took her a few minutes to realize the temperature in the tent was slowly changing.

It was getting warmer. Noticeably so.

Either that or she was imagining things.

“Come closer,” he finally spoke. It was the first thing he’d said since reentering the tent and it caused her to look his way.

And she wished she hadn’t.

He was still naked.

It took much effort to keep her eyes on his face, but staring into his eyes wasn’t making things easier.

“The fire sticks will warm you,” he said.

Fire sticks?

Oh.

They were there.

In front of him was a pile of four glowing white long things.

He called them sticks, but they looked more like smooth alien dildos to her.

Then again, that might just be the fact that her mind was full of images of dicks now and she couldn’t seem to shake those images.

“What are those?”

“Sun conductors,” he replied. When she looked up at him for an explanation, he continued. “They collect energy from the suns and store it for use.”

Diana nodded as if she understood. “Oh, you mean like some kind of solar energy heating device.”

“Yes.” Yce nodded.

A few seconds passed, but she didn’t move. She couldn’t even look at him anymore.

Instead, she kept her gaze on the “sticks.”

“Come closer,” he repeated. “You will dry faster.”

When she still didn’t move, he shrugged and went about spreading another set of zehmip skins she hadn’t noticed close to the sticks. He also put her trousers near to the sticks and she only realized then that he’d taken them from out of the rain.

Watching him work, she kept her gaze on his shoulders.

The warmth from the sticks was beckoning though.

Moving closer, she outstretched a hand and touched one of the sticks with a tentative finger, expecting it to be hot.

To her surprise, the thing was cool.

Frowning, she moved closer, putting her entire hand over one of the sticks.

Yes, it was cool, but she could feel the warmth coming from it when she just hovered her hand over it.

Interesting.

With all the sticks combined, it felt as if she was sitting beside a very warm fire.

It felt comforting.

And with the sound of the rain outside, she could almost imagine that she was out camping somewhere in Yosemite Park, resting under a tent, the rain falling outside while she just enjoyed the solitude.

Only, she wasn’t alone.

As Yce finished arranging the zehmip skin and her pants, he sat down again and Diana averted her gaze once more.

Glancing at him, she realized that he was also averting his gaze and it caused her to look at herself.

Oh, the zehmip skin had fallen a tad lower than she’d realized and her breasts were spilling forward.

Covering herself, she glanced at him again.

Hmm.

It seemed they had the same problem.

The ludicrousness of it all almost made her giggle.

Why they were acting like children, she didn’t know.

Why he was averting his gaze now, she didn’t understand. He hadn’t averted his gaze when he’d caught her staring at him while he was showering.

As a matter of fact, if she remembered correctly, he had stared right back, not breaking their gaze.

Was he uncomfortable with nakedness?

Something made her feel that wasn’t the case. He seemed fine being naked himself. It was her nakedness he wasn’t okay with.

She didn’t know what to think about that.

“Thanks for taking in my pants,” she said, watching the side of his face closely.

He grunted a response but said nothing further.

Clearing her throat, she sat to the side, not facing him head on.

It was for the best.

They were staying civil, respecting each other’s boundaries, and she could accept that.

But still, every now and again, she glanced over at him. He was staring at the barricade now, as if he was in a trance and he wasn’t really there.

The tattoos under his skin weren’t glowing at the moment, but she was sure she’d seen them glowing earlier when he’d been showering.

“Tell me,” she said, “what is your planet like? What are your people like?”

He blinked and his gaze met hers.

For a second, he just looked at her then it was as if his mind went somewhere else.

There was an obvious vacancy in his gaze, as if he was seeing things behind those eyes that she couldn’t see.

“My people…” he said, with that faraway look in his eyes. “My people are the Arois,” he finally said, focusing on her again and somehow she knew he was seeing her now and not merely gazing in her direction.

“We inhabit a planet listed as KFER493. Where I come from, we call it Tersa.”

“Oh,” Diana said. It was still hard believing there were so many other worlds out there with beings that were not Earthlings. “What’s that other name? The first one? Who calls it that?”

“KFER493?” he asked. When she nodded, he continued. “It’s the galactic determiner. Every planet has one.”

“Oh.” Diana’s eyebrows rose. “Does where I come from, Earth, have a name like that?”

“You call it Earth. Across the galaxy, it is recorded as HREX4X1.”

“HREX4X1,” Diana repeated the name. It was weird thinking of Earth as that. It made it seem like another world. One she didn’t know. One she hadn’t grown up on. One she didn’t belong to.

“And your people,” her eyes ran over his chest and she dared not let them go lower, “do they all have gems in their heads?”

“Gems?” he questioned.

“It’s a gem, isn’t it?” She frowned at the gem in his forehead.

“My chi?”

“Chi? That’s what it’s called?”

The gem in his forehead suddenly swirled a rainbow of colors and Diana stared at it, not able to help herself.

His biology was absolutely puzzling.

“Yes, every Arois has a chi.”

“And the tattoos?” She eyed his skin again.

“Tattoos?” He glanced down at himself.

“Aren’t those tattoos? It must have taken forever to do all that. You’ve done it all over your body. I mean, it’s even on your coc—” She caught herself before she finished the sentence and realized where her eyes were going.

Eyes flashing to his, she realized he was looking at her with the same intensity he had when he had caught her staring at him while he showered.

“These are not tattoos.”

“Huh?” His admittance left no space for her embarrassment, as she was now staring at his chest again. “Not tattoos? Then…”

“They are neurons,” he said.

Neurons.

Weren’t those the things that connected thoughts in your brain?

“Yes,” he said.

Wait, she hadn’t spoken out loud.

Temper flaring immediately, she frowned at him.

“Can you not do that?”

“Do what?”

“Read my mind.”

“It is difficult when you project the thought right at me,” he said. “I didn’t intentionally enter your thoughts.”

Diana blinked a few times then pulled the zehmip skin closer around herself.

“I didn’t do that on purpose.” She paused. “Your abilities…they are confusing.”

There were a few seconds of silence before she continued.

“And everyone on your planet can do this? Doesn’t it cause mayhem?”

He smiled a little. “My abilities only work on non-Arois. Our abilities begin developing from birth, eventually reaching maturity along with the body. Some Arois have more extensive powers than others. The intricacy and extent of the neurons tell you how…powerful…an Arois is.”

Diana nodded.

She hated him still, but she had to admit, he was interesting. His origin and his body parts.

“And all of you have white hair and white eyes, white tatt—I mean, neurons, and blue skin?”

He smiled for a second again before he answered. “Blue skin. Yes. Everything else, no. White is the color of my…family.” He frowned a little. “My translator says ‘bloodline’ is a better term.”

“Ah.” Diana nodded.

“Tersa is a planet similar to yours,” he said next.

That made her raise her gaze to his.

“How do you know?”

“I was intrigued about where you came from after you were thrown in my cell.” He paused, waiting for her reaction, but, probably a surprise to them both, she didn’t get angry right away.

She was still bitter about what he did in the cell, but this line of conversation was far more interesting than her hate for him. She would go back to hating after he spilled the beans.

When she didn’t react to what he said, he continued. “I asked Kyro, as he was manning the Elysium, to tell me about your planet.”

“Oh, and what do you think about Earth?”

“Your planet looks like mine did, millennia ago. But,” he paused and didn’t continue.

“But?”

“Your species is destructive…illogical. Destroying the very thing you call home.”

His eyes met hers as he waited for her response.

Diana sighed. It wasn’t something she hadn’t heard before.

Even on Earth, humans knew that.

“I know.” She nodded. “We pollute. We kill. We destroy.” She sat for a moment, reflecting on what they’d just said.

“Do you think we’re bad?”

He took a few moments to reply.

“No,” he said. “And what about me?”

“What about you?”

“Do you think I’m bad?” He phrased the sentence the way she did.

They locked eyes and for a second, she wanted to lie. But she couldn’t.

“No,” she replied.

She was telling the truth.

She didn’t know if he was bad.

She didn’t know if he was good either.

As a matter of fact, she didn’t know how she really felt towards him.

She didn’t really hate him. That was clear.

Granted, she’d been royally pissed about what he’d done but it wasn’t enough to hate him, especially when he was being so civil.

Right.

That meant she needed to figure out just how to interact with him.

Hate was easy.

She could just give him the cold shoulder.

Everything else made life complicated.

Chapter Twelve

Her trousers dried quicker than she thought they would and after she pulled them on, Yce handed her another set of zehmip skins to wrap around herself. Apparently, he’d been drying a piece by the side just for her that she hadn’t known about.

He was being nice and it was throwing her off.

The rain had died down and they were just about to leave the tent when Yce paused outside the barricade and told her to wait.

In the next second, his two boots came flying through the opening.

“Put those on,” he said.

Opening her mouth to protest, she was unable to do so because he moved off and away from the tent, leaving her to grumble to herself.

Frickin’ alien. Mr. Controlling.

She frowned, wiping the telltale smile of gratitude from her lips as her feet slipped into the boots.

God, they were so much better than the towels she’d wrapped around her feet before.

They were bigger than her feet though and she kind of felt like a little child wearing her father’s boots but it was definitely still an upgrade.

As she exited the tent, she found him standing a way off. Turning to face her, he glanced at her feet and nodded.

The sand was still wet and with each step, her feet sank deep. Thank God for the boots, because they were helping her with traction.

She noticed he’d rolled up the legs of his trousers so they didn’t get into the wet sand as they began trudging forward.

Glancing up at the suns, she assumed they rose in the east and set in the west so they were possibly heading west.

But one could never know for sure.

This planet was just…weird.

She’d been walking behind him the entire way, watching him trudge ahead, his white hair hanging down his back.

“Hey.”

He paused for a second, turning to glance back at her as he waited for her to continue.

“About the others. How will we know if they are okay?”

“They are alive,” he said.

“And you know that because of your...chi?”

He nodded.

“Well, ‘alive’ is different from being fine.”

“Yes,” he agreed. “My brothers will take care of your human friends.”

“Hey, I’m asking about them too. Not only the women.” She finally caught up with him and huffed out a breath.

He seemed mildly surprised.

“You care about my brothers?”

“Of course.” Diana shrugged. “You guys did rescue us…”

He gave her a shadow of a smile before turning to continue their trek.

“Wait.” She reached out a hand toward him, touching him on the upper arm before she could stop herself. Removing her hand as quickly as she had put it there, Diana bit her bottom lip.

Yce cocked his head, waiting for her to continue.

“That thing you offered me before. For my hair. The comb. Do you still have it?”

It was only there for a second but she saw it.

She saw the smile that passed behind his eyes.

Reaching into his bag, he retrieved the comb and handed it to her.

Great. She smiled as she took the thing from him.

The rain had washed most of the sand from her hair and after she’d raked her hand through it, it was now more manageable.

She reckoned she could get through her entire head while they walked.

It gave her something to do other than stare at his muscles rippling as he walked ahead of her.

All that was making her think of was his cock and she didn’t need to be thinking about that.

You’d think she hadn’t orgasmed in over a decade at the rate her mind was going.

Well, her friend in her bedside drawer would argue about that notion vehemently.

Still, even now trying not to think about it, it was in her head.

* * *

They were trekking for hours non-stop. Her feet were aching, but she wasn’t complaining. She knew they were headed somewhere important and that was helping her push through.

She’d managed to fully detangle her hair with minimal shedding and the accomplishment itself made her feel good.

It turned out the packets she’d gathered from the ship were indeed food and, though it tasted like mushy baby food, starvation wasn’t picky.

She gobbled down probably five of them before she thought of even offering him any.

Maybe she was being a little selfish. Feeling guilty, she called out to him.

“Hey!”

Yce paused up ahead and flexed his back muscles, rolling his neck in the process.

It seemed the walking wasn’t only affecting her.

“You want some of these?” She pushed one of the packets toward him and he stared at it for a second.

“No,” he said. But even though he wasn’t human one thing was obvious. She knew a liar when she saw one.

His eyes were still locked on the packet as she pulled it back toward herself.

“Okay,” she said, purposefully moving the packet to her mouth slowly.

His eyes followed her movement as she took a sip of the thick liquid.

This one tasted like a fruit mix.

As she pulled it from her mouth, she ran her tongue over her lips to catch a stray drop that hand landed there.

His eyes followed her movement and she watched him gulp.

Liar.

He was starving too.

“You want some, don’t you?” It wasn’t a question. She knew he wanted some. Eyeing him, she slowly raised the packet to her lips again.

“You have it. You need the energy,” he said, making to turn away.

“And so do you.” She trudged behind him. She couldn’t walk as fast in his boots. “What will you eat?”

“I will hunt a zehmip for shelter and dinner soon.”

“Yea, well, how are you going to hunt one of those things if you don’t have any energy to?”

“I’ll manage.”

God, what was it with stubborn people? She just could never understand them.

“Listen.” She stopped in her tracks. “Hey!”

The seriousness in her voice must have caught his ear because he paused to look back at her.

“You need to eat,” he said. “You will be weak.”

“Dude.” Diana rolled her eyes. “So do you, Einstein.”

She waved the packet in the air and watched as his eyes followed it for a second.

“You know you want it.”

“You need it more.”

Exasperating!

“Don’t make me have to force it down your throat.”

This time, the amusement behind his eyes was clear. Heck, it even reached his lips and she realized it was the first time she’d seen him smile.

And…damn.

She’d been missing out. His smile made him even more gorgeous.

“And just how would you do that?” he asked, trying unsuccessfully to hide his smile.

“Are you daring me?”

“No,” he sobered. “I know you are…wild.”

Wild?

Did he just call her wild?

“Wild?” She narrowed eyes at him, dropping her bag in the sand as she trudged toward him. “Wild? You think I’m wild?”

“You wrestled a sand cat. Only an insane—”

“Oh, so now I’m insane too.” Her eyes narrowed further.

Yce gulped.

He was putting himself in a corner and he knew it.

“I just mean—”

“I’ll show you fucking insane.”

Chapter Thirteen

He could sense something was about to happen but he wasn’t sure what. That was the problem with Diana. She was so unpredictable.

“Eat it,” she said, advancing on him, eyes narrowed.

He couldn’t tell if she was joking or not.

He couldn’t tell much with this human.

Humans were confusing.

And this one particularly so.

Why didn’t she eat the food?

“You can’t force me to eat it,” he said, watching her advance. She was having trouble trudging towards him while wearing his boots but that did nothing to stop the determination in her eyes.

It almost made him smile, but he didn’t dare smile while looking her directly in the eye.

He had no idea how she would respond.

She was so…illogical.

Her response could be anything.

“Oh, I can’t? You’re going to eat this. I know you want it.”

Those last five words made him think of something else immediately and his gaze dropped, only for a second, to her chest.

Even underneath the zehmip covering, he could see the bulges.

Her breasts. Her beautiful, bountiful breasts. He’d had no idea he had a particular liking for breasts until he’d seen hers.

A sliver of energy ran through his cock immediately.

“You want it. I saw it in those alien eyes of yours. And if you think you’re going to starve and collapse out here on me in this wilderness, you have another thing coming.”

She was almost upon him now and finally, a hint of the smile he was trying to hold back reached his lips.

“You worry about me?”

She paused then and flashed him a look he couldn’t read.

“No, I worry about myself.” Her gaze faltered for a second and it made him believe she wasn’t telling the truth. He didn’t need to read her mind for that.

“Well, you can’t force me. I won’t eat it.”

He made to turn and continue trekking when small hands and a leg gripped him. The arms held on to his while the leg slid between his and somehow, he didn’t know what she did, but somehow, instead of standing he was now falling.

Yce’s eyes widened, the suddenness of the move not something he’d expected.

She’d…

She’d taken him down?

How?

As he hit the sand, unexpected laughter bubbled in his belly.

What was this human doing?

Using an arm to pin down one of his own, the human crawled over him, pressing him into the sand with her body as if that would hold him there.

“Eat it.” Her face appeared above his as she moved the packet to his lips.

His laughter spilled forth. It was a deep rumble that vibrated between them both and he saw her hesitate for a second.

“No,” he said between laughs. “I won’t. You eat it.”

“Goddammit, you’re so stubborn!” she exclaimed, pressing the packet to his lips.

Closing his mouth, he gripped her to his chest and spun, throwing her beneath him in the sand.

It was her turn to look surprised, as her mouth opened slightly and she stared up at him.

Then, he could almost see it, almost as if it was tangible—competitiveness and determination. They were both swirling in her eyes.

“Just what do you think you’re doing?” Her question came out somewhat breathless from the sudden movement.

He couldn’t help but smile.

Humans…

No.

This human was so illogical.

He knew she had fighting knowledge. After seeing her wrestle that sand cat, that information was clear.

But she really thought she could use her skills to hold him down and force-feed him?

Before he could answer, she somehow managed to twist herself so that they were rolling over again and he was suddenly on the bottom.

“I’m not that easy to control, Big Blue.”

Big Blue?

That made another set of rumbles to echo through his chest.

“Big Blue? That’s what you call me?”

This time, he saw the amusement in her eyes.

“That and several other things,” she answered.

His curiosity was piqued, but it was obvious he wasn’t going to get to delve into that line of conversation because a soft human hand was once again approaching his lips with the food packet.

Her persistence made him laugh again.

She was straddling him now, squeezing her thighs against his sides to hold him still.

“Eat,” she ordered.

“And if I don’t?”

She paused for a second, as if she hadn’t thought that far ahead.

He could easily grip her arms and pin her down beside him. But, to his surprise, he was enjoying this little play of theirs. Waiting for her to reply he watched her narrow her eyes at him.

She was a little feral one, this Diana, and her narrowing her eyes made him choke on a laugh.

“Then I will just have to force-feed you then, won’t I?” She was determined. He’d give her that.

He couldn’t help it now. The laughter shook through his body without hindrance.

This human.

And it was the perfect opportunity. As he laughed, she forced the opening of the packet into his open mouth and squeezed.

Eyes locking with her blue ones, he had no choice. He had to swallow or choke.

Mmm. The food tasted so good and it was his favorite flavor too.

His laughter settled as he allowed her to feed him.

Her eyes were on the packet as he squeezed but his gaze was on her face.

She was beautiful…this being. This human.

This woman.

Wild, illogical, and unexpected…but, so beautiful.

When her gaze finally rose to his, she paused and stiffened.

It felt as if they were staring into each other’s eyes for ages, though in reality, he knew it was only for a few seconds.

Something swam in her eyes. Something he wasn’t sure of.

But he felt, with clarity, that it was a reflection of what was in his own.

They’d connected and he wasn’t sure what that meant but something had changed between them in those few short minutes.

As she cleared her throat and lifted herself from his chest, it felt almost like a loss to no longer have her warm body there.

That caused him to frown slightly.

Should he be worried about what that could possibly mean?

Chapter Fourteen

She must be insane.

Scoffing at herself, she laughed softly.

She was…a bit. Just a bit.

Why on earth had she wrestled him to the sand?

It was hard to understand why she’d done that but that wasn’t what was bothering her.

She’d felt it.

His hard body.

His cock underneath his pants.

The sexy rumble of his laughter through his chest.

Did she just say sexy?

Glancing up at the alien leading the way, Diana groaned.

It had been sexy.

Surprisingly sexy.

She didn’t even know he laughed. He was always so…serene.

He always seemed to keep such a straight face but their little romp in the sand had brought out a part of him that she hadn’t seen before.

He’d stopped to kill another zehmip, giving her the skin to wrap around herself to keep warm during their night trek.

The meat of the zehmip he’d eaten, as he’d told her he would do. He’d even offered her some, which she’d taken.

The thing smelled like coal but it was edible.

She’d eaten it and continued trekking behind him, trying to keep the thoughts surrounding his body from her mind.

That had been a feat.

She kept feeling the hardness smack between her legs. The strength in his muscles…his thick thighs.

The rumble as he laughed.

How good it sounded when it’d reached her ear.

Maybe what was happening to her was the equivalent of seeing oases in the desert.

Maybe she’d gone so long without a man that he looked to her like a tall glass of water. It didn’t help that he was blue.

As the twin suns rose slowly into the Mukkian sky, Diana sighed.

They’d been walking all night. It had been so tiring.

Her feet ached.

Her back ached.

As a matter of fact, her entire body ached.

She felt like she needed a full body massage or at least ten hours of uninterrupted sleep.

He must be tired too.

He was walking much slower than usual.

It figured.

They hadn’t encountered any sand cats in the night but that didn’t mean the trek hadn’t been a long one.

It was probably the longest she’d ever walked without stopping.

“Let’s camp here,” Yce said, stopping in a relatively flat area.

“I’ll hunt a zehmip,” he continued.

“Need help?” she asked though she knew well that she wouldn’t be of much help. She was far too exhausted.

“No, you rest here,” he said, his gaze running over her for a few seconds as he watched her collapse to the sand.

Taking his blade from the bag he was carrying, he dropped the bag on the sand beside her and headed off.

Not far away was a dune, a sleeping zehmip. It would be their victim for shelter.

When he finally returned and began setting up the tent, she could hardly keep her eyes open.

She was almost asleep when she felt strong arms surround her, lifting her from the sand.

If she wasn’t so exhausted, she would have protested, but when he took her into the tent and laid her on the zehmip skins he’d spread there, all she could do was sigh with contentment.

She was asleep before he even put the barricade up.

* * *

She was on a beach in Jamaica. The sky was a brilliant blue, the sand a brilliant white, and the sea so crystal clear, she could see straight into its depths.

Bringing the drink she’d been holding to her lips, she adjusted her sunglasses as she took a sip.

It was tangy and strong, real Jamaican ginger beer, and she breathed in deeply enjoying the slight burn in her throat.

Condensation dripped from the bottle and fell on her exposed breasts and a slight gasp escaped her lips.

It was so hot outside, she hadn’t even realized she was naked. But that didn’t matter. The beach was deserted.

It was just her relaxing on a beach chair underneath the swaying leaves of a palm tree.

Somewhere behind her, she could hear soft music playing and she assumed she’d turned on a radio or something.

But that didn’t concern her.

This was heaven.

A soft breeze brushed against her skin, tickling her nipples, and Diana smiled.

The only thing that would make this better would be a hunk of a man…but alas, she couldn’t get everything she wanted.

The waves crashed softly against the shore and Diana focused back on the horizon.

It was then that she saw it.

Wait, was she seeing clearly?

Yes, there was something, no, someone, coming out of the water.

As the person rose, Diana gasped softly.

Oh my…

Maybe she could get everything she wanted.

He was big. Hunky.

Water dripped from his head down his shoulders unto impressive pectorals.

As he came closer, Diana slowly pulled down her sunglasses, as if they were obstructing her vision.

Damn.

This guy.

She didn’t know where he came from, but he was definitely welcome.

He was standing waist-deep in the water now as he approached slowly, and as the waterline receded, the V in his torso caught her sight next.

Like a valley leading to the Holy Land, the lines of that V kept her attention till he stepped just a bit closer.

Mmm.

An appreciative smile graced her lips.

He was packed.

His cock bobbed over the waves as he exited the water and headed her way. Like three stacked coke cans.

It felt as if she’d seen that cock before but, hey, she didn’t mind drooling over it again.

As he came closer, she hadn’t noticed before, but his body was decorated in tattoos and his long hair hung in wet strands over his shoulders.

Damn.

He was hot.

He approached her with determination, as if his sole purpose for appearing was her, and she couldn’t help but gasp.

“Diana.” His voice was a deep rumble that seemed to make the air around her vibrate.

“Yes?”

He didn’t need to say anything else. As he crawled over her on all fours, the drink slipped from her hand and crashed to the sand. Her sunglasses were forgotten as she threw them somewhere behind her and wrapped both arms around the hunky stranger.

But he wasn’t a stranger.

Something about him felt familiar, familiar enough for it not to feel strange.

He dipped his face to her neck, kissing her there as one of his hands gripped her breast.

As her eyes fluttered closed, she felt his lips move down her collarbone tracing small kisses before reaching an exposed nipple.

A soft gasp left her lips as she fumbled for his cock.

That’s what she wanted.

Gripping it, she felt the power flow through her hand and she responded immediately, a jolt of electricity running straight from the tongue on her nipple to her clit.

She was already wet and she wanted him. This handsome hunk. She wanted him deep inside her.

Gripping his cock, she guided it to her entrance and moaned as she pushed the head of him inside her.

“Fuck me,” she breathed and he gripped her legs, lifting them up above her head so she was fully exposed to him.

“You’re so wet,” he murmured.

As he started pumping, Diana’s vision went blurry.

It felt so damn good.

So so good.

She was so close.

So close.

She was going to come.

Opening her eyes, she locked gazes with him.

White eyes met her blue and Diana gasped as her orgasm crashed over her.

Chapter Fifteen

Stretching on the zehmip bedding, Diana’s eyes fluttered open.

She felt good. Rested…and…

That dream!

It came back to her like a freight train. Her eyes widened as she glanced around the tent.

Somehow, seeing him naked, his massive cock hanging between his legs as he washed himself, had turned her on so much she’d dreamed about him?!

She was hot for an alien? This alien?

Maybe it was how wild he had looked...untamed...primal while washing himself in the rain.

Diana squeezed her eyes shut and tried to focus on her breathing.

She didn't want him to know that she was awake. She couldn't face him yet; not after the dream she’d just had.

She heard him shuffling in the cloth bag and then there was the sound of a blade being sharpened.

He was keeping busy.

Wasn't he tired?

He had to be.

He may look like superman but even superman slept.

Superman. Ha.

Pity his powers didn't include flying. Then they wouldn't have to endure this arduous journey.

Despite that, he still had powers. Powers she didn’t have.

It was still hard for her to believe he could read minds.

That was something that would take getting used to.

As the thought swirled in her head, her breath hitched in her throat.

He could read minds.

What if he was listening to her right now?

What if he'd been listening from the start?

He did say he could hear the thought if it was projected right at him.

Was she doing that right now?

Oh God.

Could he hear her?

Opening one eye slightly, she regarded him.

The sound of the blade didn't cease as he sharpened it; he was completely engrossed in what he was doing.

Maybe she should test if he was listening?

Like maybe think something really absurd.

But what?

She thought of the only thing that came to her mind. She imagined J'onn from Justice League and tried to project the thought at him by focusing on the image in her mind.

The sharpening of the blade didn't cease. There was no look in her direction. No indication he could hear her.

Diana squeezed her eyes shut and breathed out softly.

The Gods must be crazy.

First, she’d been abducted by aliens. Then she’d been manipulated by aliens. And here she was lusting after an alien.

What was wrong with her?

She wasn’t usually like this. So easily…affected.

She loved cocks. Which heterosexual woman didn’t? A nice cock, a rocking hard body, a handsome face…those things would turn any woman on…and he had it all.

Maybe it was just her subconscious playing around with her.

He was hot. Alien or not. And her mind was just conveniently forgetting the alien part.

Plus, she had to remember what he had done while they’d been imprisoned on that ship.

She still didn’t understand the extent of his powers but she couldn’t just forgive him for what he’d done.

She didn’t like him.

She needed to remember that.

No, it went further than that. It wasn’t just that she didn’t like him. She hated him.

Squeezing her eyes more tightly shut, she sighed softly, listening to the sound of his blade as he sharpened it.

She hated him.

She needed to remind herself of that.

Yet, that was something hard to do.

Did she really hate him?

It was hard to hate someone that was so…nonconfrontational. He wasn’t making it easy. As a matter of fact, he was making it hard to hate him.

And when she’d wrestled him to the ground and force-fed him…damn.

Burying her face into the zehmip skins, she let out a soft groan.

He’d felt so good.

So, so good.

She needed to stop thinking about him. She really, really did.

She’d always been self-sufficient.

Strong.

Reliant only on Diana O’Neal.

So why on earth was some alien guy shaking her up inside?

And why, just why was her resolve slipping so easily?

* * *

The human let out a sound in her sleep. A tantalizing sound. A sound that had his body freezing as he glanced at her.

She was sleeping, but the sound had been unmistakable.

It was ecstasy. A sound one uttered when experiencing intense pleasure. A moan that echoed under the small tent and brought his body to attention immediately.

What in Polvrak’s name was she dreaming about to cause her to moan like that?

Better yet, why were her little murmurs so…enchanting?

He’d been trying not to let the sight of her get to him but it was hard to block her sounds from his ear.

Ever since they’d settled under the tent to rest, he’d had images replaying in his head of her straddling him, forcing the food packet towards his mouth.

Even now, it brought laughter within him…and something else.

The twitch against his pants was another thing it brought.

He was rock hard. Rock hard and straining for release—the memory of her soft, supple body as she’d pressed against him, holding him down, it was driving him crazy.

And now, the sounds she was making in her sleep, they were making it almost unbearable.

His cock strained against his trousers some more, aching to be touched. But he wouldn’t touch himself. It would give him little release.

Qrak.

This was what happened to his brothers. Xul and Crex had succumbed to the same fate, and here he was, falling into the same trap.

He should have known.

He should distract himself. It seemed now that his sole purpose was getting them to the outpost safely, his mind had space to focus on other things. And what he’d decided to focus on was her…this illogical, wild, unpredictable human.

Grabbing his blade, he began to sharpen it.

But with each swipe of the metal against metal, thoughts of the human still swam in his mind.

Diana.

This Diana.

Her soft body against his, pressing him into the sand. Her hjek-colored hair falling over her shoulders. Her softness molded against his hardness.

She was so small, so delicate, so soft.

Yet, she’d had the guts to tackle him to the ground. She’d even tackled a qrakking sand cat to the ground.

A grunt left his throat as he remembered that.

She was delicate and soft, but she didn’t act like it.

So many soft parts.

He’d felt them when she’d held him down with her body.

Her soft thighs had held fast on either side of his.

And her soft breasts.

Those breasts.

His cock twitched again at the memory.

He wanted to see them again.

Well, he wanted more than that.

He wanted to bury his face between them, he wanted to feel them underneath his lips, he wanted to know what they felt like underneath his palms.

What did the pink buds in their center taste like?

And her pussy…if her breasts were so beautiful, what did her pussy look like?

He could only imagine it was just as soft and delicate looking as the rest of her.

Something he’d love to sink himself into.

Yce’s eyes widened slightly.

His thoughts.

He was always in control of his mind.

What was this?

Taking a few short breaths, he tried to calm the suddenly hard beating of his heart and the throbbing in his pants.

So this was what human women did.

They enchanted.

And he, the resistant Yce, was falling for this enchantment.

How she was doing it, he didn’t know.

Getting behind his walls was hard. Yet, this human was now in his head, making his body react in ways that he didn’t seem to be able to control.

He remembered when they were in the cell on the Isclit ship.

He hadn’t been feeling like this.

It just showed the extent to which he’d blocked her out to focus on the mission. He remembered only breaking his concentration once when she’d been so worried about the other women that she’d begun to get restless.

He’d been talking to another human then, the one called Piper, and he’d let Diana know that at least Piper was ok.

That had seemed to calm her for a bit.

But that had been it.

He’d gone back to focusing on the mission.

And now, it seemed that because he didn’t have the mission to focus on, it gave space for other things.

Other things…namely her.

As he sharpened the blade, he sensed when she came awake.

He was certain of it.

She was awake, but she was making no indication that she was.

Shifting his leg, he sat so his erection was not within her line of sight.

The last thing he needed was for her to think that he was secretly getting off on watching her sleep. He didn’t need her to know how she affected him.

That would only complicate things and things were already complicated.

But, if she was awake, why was she still pretending to sleep?

He could probe her mind, but he wouldn’t.

She’d asked him not to and he respected that. He hadn’t read her mind since they’d escaped from the Isclit ship.

Focusing on sharpening his blade, he decided to pretend that he didn’t know she was awake.

Maybe she needed some privacy.

He got that.

It was one thing he understood fully. He was solitary, after all. Enjoying his own space. Enjoying silence.

It was the first time he’d been around another being apart from his brothers where he wasn’t constantly annoyed by their presence.

But that also meant he wasn’t itching to get rid of her.

Contrary to his thoughts when the Elysium had crash landed, he was actually enjoying the human’s presence.

His cock twitched underneath his trousers again and he bit back a groan.

Maybe he was starting to enjoy her presence too much.

Chapter Sixteen

The alien didn’t seem to sleep. When Diana dozed off again and woke a few hours later, he was still sitting in the corner of the tent.

She would ask if he wasn’t going to sleep, but she didn’t want to talk to him.

Somehow she had a feeling that if she tried, her words would come out in a breathless rush and give her away.

Luckily, she hadn’t dreamed about fucking him again and that was a relief.

Yet, as she sat up in the tent, she pulled the zehmip skins closer toward her as if to offer some protection.

Protection from what?

Herself?

She was the horny one.

Ugh, she could just throttle herself. Of all the things to be feeling in this situation, horny wasn’t one of them.

She was running for her life on an alien planet. Her own planet was eons away and the only other humans close by could be dead for all she knew.

It wasn’t a situation to be horny in. Yet, even now, watching him put away his blade, the muscles in his arms and shoulders rippling as he moved, she felt her clit respond.

Fuck.

The dream had felt so real.

So darn real.

It was almost as if she could feel his cock spread her lips wide as he entered her.

She could almost feel it now.

So strong, she wanted to brush her fingers over her clit.

Fuck!

Squeezing her eyes shut, his voice startled her.

“You’re awake.”

Diana swallowed hard.

She couldn’t answer. If she did, it would be a breathless gasp. She was despicable.

Utterly despicable.

Nodding, she pulled the zehmip skin closer around her body.

Had his voice gotten deeper or something? He sounded sexier…or maybe that was the horniness talking.

Goddammit.

“Here,” he said, white eyes meeting hers as he outstretched a part of a zehmip stalk toward her. “Eat. We trek when you’re ready.”

Nodding again, she took the stalk from him and began eating, watching him as she did.

As she gulped down the last piece of the fleshy stalk, she grabbed her bag.

“How much longer do we walk?” she asked, intent on focusing on something, anything else than him.

“Not long,” he said, grabbing his sack as he exited the tent.

As she exited behind him, she pulled the zehmip skins closer over her shoulder. The nights on this planet were always so cold. It was a stark contrast to the heat of the day.

“Don’t you ever sleep?” she asked as they set off. His boots sunk into the sand with every step and she felt like a child wearing them but he hadn’t asked for them back. He was being kind to her.

“I do,” he answered, his words floating in the cool air to reach her.

“I just,” he continued, “had things on my mind.”

Diana snorted. “Tell me about it.”

He glanced back at her then, his white gaze flicking over her face for a second and she felt herself blush.

She hoped he couldn’t see in the dim light.

Yes, she had things on her mind. He didn’t need to know what those things were and she wasn’t going to expound on that conversation.

Clearing her throat, she cast her gaze around them.

It was quiet. Cold and quiet.

So quiet, you’d think they were alone in the wilderness. It was absolutely deceiving.

“You are worried about your friends?” he asked, turning back around to continue walking.

Yes, she’d go with that.

Her friends, or rather, the other humans, were what had been filling her mind for the last few hours. Not hot alien bod.

“Have you contacted your men? Your brothers?” she asked instead.

“No,” he replied. “I can sense they are surviving.”

“Surviving,” Diana mumbled, adjusting the cloth bag over her shoulders. “Not exactly optimistic.”

“Contacting them unnecessarily will use too much of my energy and I need to be...alert,” he finished.

Diana’s eyes narrowed a little.

Somehow, it felt as if he was going to finish with something else.

Maybe he was going say he needed to be alert because he had a little human to take care of.

Her eyes narrowed some more.

It was dark now, but she could see enough of him in the darkness to glare at his back. The long white strands of hair that flowed over his gorgeous, muscular back.

Momentarily squeezing her eyes shut, she breathed out hard.

This is why she needed to hate him.

But hating him was as hard as staring at a snack like Henry Cavill relaxing in a hot tub and keeping her eyes to herself.

They were walking for what felt like another half an hour, and during that time she kept internally arguing with herself, trying to find things about him that she hated, things she should hate.

Her list was thin.

She only had two things:

One, he was an alien.

Two, he had altered her thoughts without her permission.

Annoyingly, the more time she spent with him, the less angry she was becoming about those two things.

As a matter of fact, the first thing was almost something she’d forgotten.

He didn’t feel like an alien.

Again, she wished he looked like one of those Tasqals or Jabba the Hutt.

She was in her thoughts with Yce a few paces in front of her because of his boots slowing her down, but she noticed he had stopped suddenly, his arms tense.

Squinting in the darkness, a chill ran down her spine automatically.

“What’s wrong?” she whispered, her eyes darting around them.

She wished they could carry a torch, her eyes were no good in the darkness, but she knew it wasn’t wise.

“Listen,” he said. But he didn’t say the words out loud. He’d spoken to her in her fucking head! Her anger flared for a second and she was about to tell him to talk to her normally when she heard it, the undeniable sound of tree bark stretching.

“Zehmips,” she thought.

“Several of them,” he spoke in her head again but she ignored the fact. Something about the fact he was doing it made the hairs on her arms stiffen. Obviously, he wanted to remain silent.

“They are waking up all around us,” his voice was suddenly urgent.

She could hear them, the sound was almost deafening now, doing away with the silence that was there before.

And there was another sound.

A snarl.

She knew that sound.

She remembered it clearly. After all, she’d had that same snarl right at her ears when she’d taken down one of the animals with her own two arms.

Sand cats.

“A dozen sand cats. Multiple zehmips,” Yce said. “I’ve never heard of so many in one place before.”

Shit.

This wasn’t good.

There was no way they could handle so many predators on their own all at once.

“What should we do? What should I do?” she thought back to him, not even realizing she was communicating with him in that way.

When his large hand clasped hers, Diana’s eyes widened.

“We run,” he said, holding her hand tightly as he took off.

Chapter Seventeen

They took off at a run but it was difficult moving quickly in his boots. Nevertheless, Diana gulped hard, finding strength in his tight grip on her hand as they ran.

It was dark, she couldn’t see anything, but she could hear it all. She could hear that things were happening around them. Terrifying things.

The sound of tree bark stretching was coming from every direction.

That meant a lot of zehmips.

She didn’t think she ever saw more than two close to each other but from the sounds around them, it sounded like they were suddenly in a forest of the things.

As the cold air hit her face, she forced her legs to push forward. Yce was still gripping her hand tightly as if he was scared of her fingers slipping from his, and she focused on the tug of his arm as they ran through the night.

She heard the sand cats too. They were growling, snarling, and she could almost hear them moving in the sand. Their feet were padded, making them silent predators as they traversed the sand in their hunt. But she was acutely aware that apart from her and Yce running and the sound of the zehmips rising, there was movement around them too.

They were being chased.

“Can we outrun them?” she asked in her mind, hoping he could hear her. She didn’t know how it worked. She wasn’t sure she could just speak to him like this but it was worth a try. She knew shouting to him in the night might bring more attention to them and attention was not what they needed right now.

“No,” he answered, his deep voice suddenly appearing in her mind.

A shiver ran down her spine at his answer.

“Then what’s the plan?” She was beginning to panic. She could feel it.

The thought of being ripped apart by multiple wild animals made her go pale.

“Get you to safety,” he said.

His words almost made her stop in her tracks.

That’s why they were running? He was concerned about her?

“I can handle myself,” she hissed, “just tell me what to do.”

Loud snarls echoed close to them, way too close, and Diana gulped.

Then it happened.

It happened so fast, she didn’t have time to catch her bearings.

Something was holding on to her, and not just her leg or arm or something—her entire lower body.

She was suddenly being lifted into the air, her only connection to the ground being Yce’s grip on her hand.

A scream left her lips as she struggled to understand what was happening, the cloth bag she was carrying falling from her other arm as she flailed in the air.

It wasn’t a sand cat. They couldn’t lift her this high and she didn’t feel any teeth sinking into her flesh.

Yce was desperately pulling on her hand. Discarding his own cloth bag to grip both of her hands with his own. He was pulling her so hard it felt like her arm would dislocate.

But whatever was gripping her and lifting her into the air was strong, ridiculously strong.

As her terrified eyes met his, she could see the panic on his face.

She was being lifted higher now and their grip on each other’s hands was slipping.

Then it hit her. The sound of the tree bark stretching. The moisture around her lower body. The ooze.

It was a zehmip.

She’d been grasped by a zehmip and the thing was trying to swallow her.

Using her free hand, she swung it above her to connect with thick, wooly hair.

The same hair she had slept on for the past few days. The same hair she had wrapped around herself for warmth.

She was right. It was a zehmip.

Somehow, she hadn’t imagined the thing actually eating or even being a predator itself. Even though she’d known it was dangerous, with Yce cutting them down so easily, she’d somehow not thought of them as a threat.

But now...

It felt like some kind of suction, whatever was pulling her into the zehmip’s mouth, and she realized she was only slipping deeper and deeper inside the thing. What had been a tent for her for the past few days was now actively trying to ingest her?

Fear gripped her as she struggled to climb out, still gripping on to Yce’s hand.

His boots slipped from her feet and fell deeper into the mouth of the zehmip as she tried to climb forward. But this only made things worse as the smoothness of her feet made it so there was absolutely no traction against the flat insides of the zehmip’s mouth.

“I’m slipping further!” she screamed, realizing her grip on his hand was slipping too.

“I’ll get you out of there!” he shouted back. “But I have to let you go.”

No. Don’t let go. Please don’t.

But she knew he had to.

And…she trusted him.

He would get her out of there.

She knew it.

She trusted him to do it.

As her fingers slipped from his, Diana gripped on to the edge of the zehmip’s closing mouth with both hands.

Please hurry.

But as he bent to find his blade, she heard the snarls of the sand cats.

They were closing in now that she and Yce had stopped running, and all she could do was scream his name as the first one pounced.

He had his blade now, but it was still a struggle.

She watched him take down the first sand cat as she was lifted higher into the air, the sound of tree bark stretching in her ears as the suction pulled her deeper.

Another sand cat pounced on him, digging its teeth into his back, and she watched him ignore the pain as he raised his worried eyes to hers.

She could barely see him now, as she gripped the sides of the zehmip’s mouth, struggling to lift herself enough so she wasn’t swallowed entirely. She realized with clarity that the mouth was almost fully closed now and that her entire body was being covered with the plant’s inner slime.

She was being eaten...and it wasn’t the cunnilingus her body would have been happy to receive earlier. It was like the universe had a screwed up sense of humor.

The more she struggled, the faster the zehmip’s mouth seemed to close, but she found herself screaming and struggling as she tried to escape her impending doom.

But it was futile.

It was far too slippery. She had no grip.

The only thing she could hold on to was two of the spikes where the mouth closed and she was gripping them for dear life.

As the zehmip’s mouth closed, she could see enough in the darkness that Yce was being swamped.

There were three sand cats on him now and Diana stared at him in horror.

He was still heading towards her, determination in his eyes.

Why didn’t he save himself?

He was going to be killed if he didn’t kill them first.

He should take care of himself. She...well, she’d figure something out.

But her thoughts bore no confidence.

For the first time in her life, she was left to face something she hadn’t had to face in a long time.

The last time she’d felt this helpless was when...

Her stepfather.

Something broke inside her and Diana choked on a sob.

She could do this.

She could take care of herself.

She’d always taken care of herself.

She’d never needed anyone to fight her battles for her.

She’d been fighting them by herself all her life and she’d managed to survive.

She was strong.

She could do this.

But as she struggled and slipped further and further away, the slime and ooze now dripping over her hands and face, she couldn’t help the tear that ran down her cheek.

The only option for escape was slowly closing before her and she couldn’t reach it. No matter how much she struggled, it was far too slimy…far too slippery. She just kept falling back.

And when she saw her last view of the ground, she choked on another sob.

Yce.

She could hardly see his body now as he fought with the sand cats. She couldn’t even count how many; there were just so many of them attacking him all at once.

As the zehmip’s mouth closed, she kept her grip on the two spikes as she was enveloped in complete darkness.

Darkness and ooze.

She could hardly hear anything now. It was oddly quiet in the mouth of the plant. And as it constricted around her, the juices covering her entire body, she finally stopped struggling.

She couldn’t escape this.

She couldn’t do it alone.

For the first time in her life, she wasn’t her own savior.

For the first time in her life, she had to face the fact that she couldn’t do it on her own.

“Fuck you!” she screamed at the plant, rage rising within her. “Fuck you!”

She kicked the thing, realizing that just as when she had been trying to climb out, her kicks just slipped against the soft inside of the plant’s mouth.

Still, she let out all her energy, raining kicks on the inside of the plant till her legs pained her.

It was all she could do.

Yce wasn’t coming.

He was probably dead.

She choked on another sob as the thought hit her and kicked harder.

There was no way he could have gotten rid of all those cats by himself and the image of him being dragged off to one of their dens made fresh tears form in her eyes.

She hated this. She hated all of this.

This planet. Its inhabitants. The Isclits and Tasqals that were after them. Everything.

She began raining kicks again till she could kick no more. Her legs were tired, weak from the exertion, and she was still in the same spot. Nothing had changed.

Breathing hard, it was only the sound that broke the silence.

Around her, everything else was quiet.

She couldn’t even hear the sand cats outside and that was probably for the best.

She didn’t want to hear them as they tore him apart.

It was too much.

Choking on another sob, she screamed in frustration.

She didn’t even get to tell Spock that she didn’t really hate him.

All that anger towards him seemed so irrelevant now.

In his last moments, he had been determined to set her free.

She didn’t hate him, that big blue idiot.

Far from it.

A part of her actually…liked him.

Chapter Eighteen

She could feel the zehmip pulsing around her and it was getting hard to breathe now. There was so much slime, so much ooze, and the walls of the thing’s mouth just seemed to keep oozing more and more of the substance.

Her eyes were closed and she couldn’t open them because of the level of slime. To breathe, she had her hand clasped over her nose to prevent the fluid from going down her nostrils.

The slime wasn’t burning her skin though. She was thankful for that at least.

Maybe it was just waiting for her to suffocate and then the digestion would start.

It felt as if she was in a coffin.

It was a coffin.

She was just waiting for time to stop and the minutes ticked by slowly.

In her mind, thoughts moved by slowly.

She thought of Earth. It seemed so far away now. Like another world. Well, it was another world and she was far, far away from it.

Funny, nothing on Earth seemed to matter at the moment.

If she’d had a successful corporate career, it wouldn’t have mattered anymore.

If she’d driven an expensive car, who would give a shit about that now?

If she’d had a mansion on a hill, it really wouldn’t matter at all.

Nothing. Mattered.

When faced with death...nothing mattered anymore.

It was a strange feeling.

There was such...emptiness.

She was alone in her thoughts, so alone, that it took her a few seconds to realize the zehmip was shuddering every few seconds.

If she could open her eyes, she would. Instead, she tried to listen. Her ears were covered in the slime, too, though and if she couldn’t hear anything before the cavity was flooded with the ooze, she definitely couldn’t hear anything now.

She was sure of it, though.

There had been a shudder.

Waiting a few seconds, she felt nothing.

Maybe she had just imagined it, but as her hope fell once more and she went back to her thoughts, the head of the zehmip shook.

Yes, that was definitely a shudder and it didn’t feel like it was the plant itself that was doing it.

It happened again. This time, the zehmip jerked so ferociously she was rocked back and forth within the cavity of its mouth.

And then she was falling.

The feeling was undeniable.

She was still in the plant’s mouth but the sudden downward movement was immediately recognizable.

She was falling and it only took a few seconds before there was a hard impact when she hit the sand on the surface.

Thoughts swirled in her head. What had caused the zehmip to fall so suddenly?

From what she knew, they only fell if their stalks are cut and sand cats couldn’t do that.

That only left...Yce.

Her heart jumped at the thought.

Was he still alive?

Had he managed to survive being mobbed by a gang of the terrible cats?

She got her answer in the next few seconds as the mouth of the zehmip was sliced open and she felt two large, strong arms grip her.

As she was pulled from the slime, Diana wiped away the fluid from her eyes, coughing as she exited the ooze.

She’d forgotten how cold it was outside.

Inside the zehmip’s mouth had been so warm. Now, the cold hit her, but she was thankful for it.

It reminded her that she was alive.

As she managed to clear her vision, she cast her eyes on her rescuer and a sob caught in her throat.

He was gripping her to him as he stumbled away from the now dead plant.

Yce.

He’d done it.

He’d done it after all.

“Yce,” she breathed, wrapping her still slimy arms around his neck as gratitude overwhelmed her.

She hadn’t been so happy to see another person in all her life.

“Yce!” she choked again, sobs escaping her throat.

He said nothing. Instead, he held her close as he stumbled away. His gait was jerky, but she didn’t notice. She was too overwhelmed by the fact that she was alive and he was there.

It’s one thing when you think you are going to die only to be given a second chance at life.

As she buried her face into his neck, she let the tears flow and she didn’t try to stop them.

It was her first tears in over fifteen years.

In all that time, she had refused to let herself cry.

After that last time it had happened, the last time her stepfather had entered her room and she’d decided no more, that she was going to fight for herself, she had decided not to cry.

And she’d kept that promise.

But right now...right now, crying felt so good.

It felt so good to just let it all out.

Yce stumbled a few more paces before he tried to rest her on the sand, but she wouldn’t let him go.

She wasn’t ready to do so yet.

He was a reminder that she was alive.

Clinging on to him, her face buried into his neck, she held on to him tighter. He made a sound and, instead of putting her down on the sand, he sat with her in his arms and held her close.

He said nothing.

He didn’t need to.

She didn’t know if he was reading her mind or not but at the moment she didn’t care.

She just wanted to hold on to him.

He was alive and he was here. And because of him, so was she.

She needed to feel his strength for a few more minutes.

But they sat like that for more than a few minutes. It was pitch black around them and it was cold, but here, close beside him, everything felt like it was going to be all right.

“Thank you,” she whispered and felt as he rested his chin against the top of her head.

Still, he didn’t try to release her again and she didn’t try to move.

It was just her and him.

Her and this alien.

This alien who’d saved her. And she thanked him for it.

She thanked him so darn much.

Chapter Nineteen

Dawn sauntered in as the twin suns rose into the sky slowly.

It was getting light enough for her to see their surroundings and as she raised her head from his neck and looked over his shoulder, her eyes widened in their sockets.

All around them were bodies. Bodies of zehmips everywhere, sliced from the stalk, their mouths also carved open. And dotted around the bodies of the dead plants was what was left of the sand cats.

“My goodness,” she breathed.

They hadn’t gotten him. He’d been the one to get them, and judging from the dismembered bodies dotting the ground, he’d gotten them good.

She couldn’t count how many cats were lying dead on the ground because there were so many parts strewn around.

She didn’t even know how many zehmips were on the ground. It was carnage. Mass carnage.

“What—” she began.

“I couldn’t find you.” His voice reached her ear. “The cats pulled me away and I couldn’t find you.” He sounded tired, exhausted really, but Diana couldn’t pull her gaze away from the scene in front of her.

The pieces came together in her mind then.

He’d battled for his life, fighting off the cats, then when he couldn’t find the zehmip that had swallowed her, he had slaughtered every single one of them in search of her.

No one had ever fought so hard for her before.

The thought touched something deep within her.

He’d done that for her.

Judging from the number of bodies, they’d been in horrible danger last night.

It was well over twenty zehmips and at least a dozen sand cats.

Somehow, they’d walked into some kind of feeding frenzy and they’d made it out alive.

When she finally pulled her wide eyes from the carnage to gaze upon him, her eyes widened some more and a gasp caught in her throat.

Easing off him, her mouth fell open.

His blue skin was tinged with blood, his white hair clumped together by the fluid.

There were wounds all over his body and the more she eased off and looked at him the more wounds she saw.

His eyes were almost closed and she felt a lump form in her throat.

It wasn’t tiredness she’d heard in his voice earlier.

No, it had been something else. He was weak.

From the looks of it, he had been bleeding from his wounds all night while she’d selfishly held on to him, not even asking if he’d been okay.

Her breaths came short and hard as regret hit her like a boulder.

“Yce,” she breathed.

“I will heal,” he said, as if reading her mind and again, she didn’t care if he had.

“But—”

“I will be fine,” he said, his eyes almost closed now.

His grip on her was slipping as his energy waned and Diana gripped him.

No.

He wasn’t about to lose consciousness now.

What could she do to help? They were in the middle of the desert. A desert with no end in sight.

Gripping him harder, the slime from the zehmip made their skin cling together.

She was sticky all over but at least she was otherwise okay. Him on the other hand...

Then she remembered. She’d had that first-aid kit in the cloth bag she’d been carrying.

She just had to find it.

As Yce’s eyelids fell lower, he almost collapsed backward.

Struggling to support his weight, she rested him on the sand as her eyes searched the area.

She had no idea where it was and with all the carnage littering the desert floor, it would be difficult to find it.

Still...she had to try.

A glance at Yce made her heart lurch.

He was in a bad state.

His eyes were hardly open now but she could see that he was looking at her underneath his almost-closed lids.

“I’m going to get something to make you feel better,” she said, smoothing a hand over his forehead.

He blinked slowly but didn’t say a word.

With that, she stood on shaky feet, ignoring the way her skin felt with the slime still sticking to it, and began walking in the direction she thought he’d brought them from.

If she headed the right way, she should see the cloth bag somewhere in the sand close to the zehmip he’d slain to rescue her.

She began walking, stepping over the bodies ripped apart on the ground, but then she began to run, the urgency stressing on her mind.

Where was that damn bag?

Using her foot to push some of the smaller dead sand cats, she checked underneath where they lay.

But as she moved cat after cat, she couldn’t find it.

She knew it was there somewhere. It had to be.

Hands raising to grip her hair, she pulled on the strands even though they were thickened with slime.

This was just one of those cases where you couldn’t find the thing you’re looking for but it was right in the open underneath your nose.

Trying to calm her mind, she took a few deep breaths.

If she was calm, she could find it. She just needed to be calm and think rationally.

But that was hard when the one other being you cared about in this wilderness was bleeding to death!

With a groan of frustration, she gave a nearby dead zehmip a kick.

She was frustrated, but she wasn’t going to give up.

Not now.

Not after he’d fought so hard to rescue her.

She would do all she could to help him.

Walking a few more feet, Diana squinted at the sand ahead of her.

The dead zehmip up ahead had something poking out of the slice in its head that looked like...no, it was...it was a boot.

His boot!

She almost hooted as she dashed toward the dead plant, searching frantically in the sand around it for the discarded bag.

When she finally found it, she clutched it to her chest and whispered silent thanks.

As she stood, she stared at the zehmip that had swallowed her and tried to digest her just hours before.

Giving it a forceful kick before she headed off on a run, she gripped the bag to her chest as if it was treasure.

When she reached him, he was still lying there on the sand. He was still bleeding and his eyes were now closed but as she fell to her knees beside him, his eyelids rose a little.

“Yce?” Her whisper was soft, but he seemed to hear her.

“I am here,” he answered telepathically and his voice felt like it caressed her mind.

It seemed he didn’t have enough energy to speak and it only made what she needed to do more urgent.

Pulling the little first-aid kit from the box, she turned it over in her hand, trying to figure out how to open it.

There was only a button on top, and when she pressed it, the lower half of the box slid out like a drawer.

Glancing over the items, she hoped it wouldn’t be too different from the items on Earth.

She could see something that looked like gauze and there were several teardrop-shaped items with liquids in them. They were all labeled. Only, she couldn’t read whatever language they were labeled in.

“Shit,” she breathed.

She needed some antiseptic, some cleansing wipes, and some astringent at least.

Picking up teardrop packet after teardrop packet, she had no idea what to use. The last thing she wanted to do was put something on him that would make his wounds worse.

Glancing at him, she realized his eyes were closed again.

Dammit, what should she do?

“Hjek hair,” his voice reached her mind, “use the blue ones first. Then the green. Then the yellow.”

Hjek hair?

She’d think about that later.

Grabbing as many of the blue packets as she could, she ripped them open and emptied the contents over the wounds on his chest and arms.

She’d need something to wipe the wound, but as she turned to search the first-aid kit again, she realized that whatever she’d just squeezed into his wounds was causing a strange reaction.

The wounds were getting cloudy...no...they were filling with foam and the foam was rising.

“Is that supposed to happen?” she breathed, feeling completely out of her element.

“Yes.”

She’d take his word for it.

As the foam built to a few centimeters, it suddenly stopped then began to shrink. Soon, the foam disappeared and turned to liquid, running down his skin.

“Green now,” he instructed.

Diana nodded, grabbing the green packets and applying them to the wounds.

She winced as she heard the liquid fizz in his wounds. The wounds were deep—deep claw marks and bites.

He’d been mauled.

“Mauled?”

She glanced at him and despite the pain he should be feeling there was a slight smile on his lips.

“I’d say they were the ones that got mauled.”

Diana snorted but she let the smile that came to her lips stay there.

If he had the energy to joke, it meant that whatever these liquids were doing was working already.

Good.

Yellow next.

Taking the yellow packets, she squeezed them into the wounds and watched them settle.

It seemed the yellow teardrops had the astringent in it because the bleeding slowed considerably before stopping completely.

It worked fast. Faster than any medicine she was used to.

“Thank you,” he said and she raised her eyes to his.

“No. Thank you.”

He gazed back at her for a few seconds. “Shelter,” he whispered.

Right. They needed to camp and recuperate.

Only, the thought of resting underneath a zehmip again made her shiver. There was no way she could rest underneath one of those man-eating plants ever again.

As Yce struggled, she stood by his side, supporting him as he stood. Draping one of his arms over her shoulder, she held the cloth bag in one hand as she helped him support his weight.

It wasn’t even something she thought about. It was just something that she did. It was automatic and it wasn’t until she felt his gaze on her that what she was doing occurred to her.

Well, it was the least she could do. He needed the help.

As they hobbled together from their position, Diana glanced around the desert in front of them.

She could see some dunes a little way off and she knew what that meant. Living zehmips. But as before, she was definitely not going to even entertain the thought of resting underneath one again.

They’d just have to find an alternative.

Chapter Twenty

When her grip had left his fingers, a sort of panic he’d never felt before had suddenly surrounded him.

Rescuing her from the zehmip’s clutch should have been easy.

He just had to slaughter it. But the sand cats had chosen that moment to pounce.

Usually, he’d have been ready, knowing their moment of attack before they actually leaped into the air.

But this time, he didn’t.

He’d been too focused on the human. Diana.

The fear that had been in her eyes had been too evident...too real.

It had clutched at something within him, something that reminded him of what it was like to be alive.

With his abilities, it was easy to forget that life was not a predictable string of events.

Of all the beings he’d encountered while traveling to different worlds, he hadn’t found a species where he couldn’t predict their next move.

Even his brothers. They thought they were different, but most beings were the same.

Predictable.

Especially when you could go so deep into their head you understood who they were at their core.

But she...she was unpredictable, and in that moment, when he’d seen that look in her eyes when she’d realized that she was close to losing her life, he had realized that of all the things he’d encountered so far on his missions, she was the only thing he couldn’t predict.

She was the only thing that made him uneasy.

She was the only thing that took him out of his own head to question reality.

And he liked that.

He fucking liked it.

Now, she was being even more unpredictable.

Her small body was supporting his as they walked, and even though he could walk on his own, he found what she was doing to be curious.

He’d pretend he couldn’t walk on his own for a little longer, just to see what she would do.

Maybe it was the shock of almost dying. Had it knocked the wildness out of the little human?

She’d even smiled at him earlier.

He thought she hated him.

Well, maybe her hate would return later.

At the moment, he’d enjoy this unpredictable behavior of hers.

“I don’t want to rest under one of those things again,” she said suddenly, breaking the silence around them.

To him, her voice sounded different. Small.

Was she scared of the zehmips now?

The ones they rested under were dead. There was no need to fear them.

“It will be dead,” he stated the obvious, but he was trying to understand why there had been a quiver in her voice.

“I know. I just...” She trailed off and he didn’t push it any further.

He didn’t quite understand the reasoning, but it was obvious she was traumatized by what had happened. He wouldn’t force her to sleep under a zehmip if she didn’t want to. The only problem was there was no other way to shelter in this desert unless they managed to find an abandoned cave, and those were hard to find.

The twin suns were rising and soon it would be too hot to travel. Plus, they needed to rest.

“I just...” She trailed off again.

“It is fine, Diana. We will find an alternative.”

Her voice, her words, her whole demeanor was so different from what he was used to that it was bothering him.

He didn’t like Diana like this, he realized. He much preferred the feisty, feral Diana that hated him.

Maybe to take her mind off things he should remind her that he wasn’t her favorite person in the world.

The thought almost made him chuckle.

He’d never felt the need to remind someone that they hated him before.

The thought came to him immediately, and he knew what he needed to do.

Removing his arm from around her shoulders, he pushed her away from him harshly, faking an annoyed look.

“I can walk fine. If you want to be helpful, don’t get eaten next time.”

He looked at her long enough to see her look of shock as if he had suddenly gone mad. Then a flare erupted in her eyes and he turned away, a small smile on his face.

There it was.

Her fire was still there.

Hjek-colored hair. Hjek-colored spirit.

She was predictable after all.

He expected her to unleash some kind of verbal assault on him but what he didn’t expect was too sticky hands to press into his back forcefully as she flung her body weight into him with a push.

It caught him unaware, and it seemed as if her small hands had found the exact spot where there were wounds on his back.

Wincing, he bit back the laugh that came to his throat.

“Why do you have to be such a dick?!” He heard her scream. He had no idea why she was calling him a male sex organ but he had no time to ask as she pushed him again.

Maybe she thought she was strong enough to push him over? Maybe he should oblige her. It would probably lift her spirits.

Stumbling, he fell to the ground.

“You dick!” she shouted. “You absolutely insufferable blue dick!”

He could hear the anger in her voice and logically, it shouldn’t make him feel so good.

“You think I look like a male’s sex organ?” He turned over on his back and eased himself up on his elbows. She was still glaring at him with balled fists.

“No.” She screwed her face up a bit before frowning again. “You’re a different type of dick.” Her eyes flamed. “You think I purposefully got eaten by that thing? You think I willingly decided I wanted to be something’s dinner?”

She was a sight to behold.

The zehmip’s digestive juices were still all over her and it had turned into sticky goo. The zehmip skins she was wearing clung to her body, her hair clung to her head, and apart from that, with her glaring at him so, he couldn’t help the chuckle that shook his shoulders.

“You’re laughing?” Her anger only seemed to rise. “You think this is funny?”

He just looked back at her, not bothering to hide the smile on his lips and he watched as her anger slowly faded.

“You did that on purpose, didn’t you,” she finally said.

“Did what?”

Diana rolled her eyes. “I don’t know why you’re trying to rile me up. Now is not the time.”

But it had worked. She wasn’t being dejected anymore.

“Rain,” he informed her.

Diana glanced up at the sky. “We should hurry to find somewhere to shelter then.”

“Too late.”

He knew he was still smiling at her. He could even feel the strange look he had in his eyes. But he couldn’t help himself as he watched the first fat raindrop hit her in the face and she gasped.

Diana gasped.

The surprise on her face changed instantly to delight as she lifted her head to the incoming raindrops.

As the torrent began, she dropped the cloth bag to her feet and raised her hands in the air, spinning slowly.

It must feel good, getting the fresh water to wash away the zehmip’s digestive juices.

Actually, he knew it felt good. He could feel her relief spreading through him as if the emotion was his own.

He lay there on the ground watching her as the rain beat down on his own skin.

It felt good—like a nice way to wash away the terror of the night before.

It was falling hard enough now that he had to sit upright but his gaze didn’t move from her the entire time.

She was still turning around on the spot, her eyes now closed and a soft smile on her face.

And then she did something that he didn’t expect.

Lowering her arms, she slowly shrugged off the zehmip coat to expose her bare shoulders.

And when he thought she was going to stop there, she didn’t.

The entire cloak went falling to the ground, leaving her entire upper half unclothed.

Naked.

Bare.

Right in front of him.

Qrak.

She was back to being as unpredictable as a tree n’jyst.

He couldn’t stop looking at her now, even if he wanted to.

And when he thought she would stop there, she went further.

In the next few seconds, her trousers came off and she was standing in front of him naked.

His wide-eyed gaze rose to hers but she still had her eyes closed.

Had she forgotten he was there?

Should he make a sound?

Should he turn away?

He should. He should do both.

Instead, he did neither.

He couldn’t take his eyes off her.

As the droplets ran down her skin, his eyes followed their paths.

She was beautiful.

So pale and soft.

So...

Yce gulped.

He could feel his cock harden in his pants and when she turned to face him, it jerked against the fabric, begging for release.

Qrak.

Was she doing this on purpose?

Was she...

Surely she remembered that he was right there. After all, they’d been together since the Elysium had crashed.

She couldn’t have forgotten his presence so suddenly. Could she?

When she finally opened her eyes to look at him, the look she gave him was one he couldn’t read.

For a second, he wanted to read her mind but a part of him was scared of what he’d find there.

She stood there, completely naked in front of him, unmoving, the raindrops running down her body as she looked at him, not saying a word.

He didn’t realize he’d stood and moved toward her until he was looming over her and she was looking up at him.

“You...” he said, noting the sudden hoarseness in his voice.

“What about me?” Her voice was light, so light it was like a caress aimed directly at his cock and he felt himself jerk again.

His eyes searched hers.

What was she doing?

They were standing close now and she didn’t move away. The fact that his cock was straining against his pants wasn’t helping either. Coupled with the hardened little buds on her bosom, he could hardly concentrate.

All his mind was telling him to do was one thing.

Touch her.

He wanted to touch her.

The urge was strong. So strong, he was only stopping himself by balling his hands into fists.

Then this unpredictable woman...qrak.

She did something he hadn’t seen coming.

Closing the distance between them, she wrapped her arms around his neck, tipping on her toes so she could raise her face closer to his.

“Kiss me.” Her eyes fell to his mouth as the words left her lips.

What?

Kiss her?

He had no idea what she meant but something deep inside him told him that whatever it was, it was about to blow his mind.

She must have seen the confusion in his eyes because she didn’t wait to clarify.

The next thing he knew...no, the next thing he felt, was his entire body ignite as she pressed her lips against his.

Chapter Twenty-One

Diana pressed her lips against his, opening her mouth slightly as their skin touched. She paused for a second, her hot breath brushing against his mouth, as she suddenly froze.

She wasn’t sure what she was doing but she couldn’t stop now.

Beneath her arms, she could feel his muscles tighten but he didn’t move. He didn’t stop her, he didn’t jerk away…he did nothing. It was as if he was waiting to see what she would do next.

Either that or he was leaving it up to her, giving her control over the situation.

As the rain beat down on them, this time the droplets felt warm. Maybe it was the rising suns or maybe it was just that her entire body was heated just from the touch of his lips against hers.

But still, she hesitated.

She hated him, so why was she doing this?

“I hate you.” Her whisper brushed against his lips and there was a pause. His lips moved slightly as if he was hiding a smile.

“I know.” His deep voice filled her mind and then he closed the distance between them, pressing his lips softly against hers. He paused there for a second.

As she opened her mouth a little more to run her tongue over his lips, she felt him stiffen again.

Oh, this must be new to him. Maybe the Arois didn’t do kissing?

Well, maybe this would be his first lesson then.

As she ran her tongue against his lips, pressing slightly at the line where his lips closed, Yce finally relented, opening his mouth slightly to let her tongue in.

It was like electricity, feeling the smoothness of his tongue against hers, the warmth of his mouth as the rain fell down on them both.

Groaning, she pressed her body against his, forgetting about everything else for a minute and she felt his arms circle her waist as he held her against him.

She played with his tongue for a little and when she sucked his bottom lip into her mouth, she felt him shudder against her.

“Diana.” His groan moved through his body and echoed in hers.

And then it was like there was no holding back.

His mouth opened to hers and she opened to him. His tongue was on hers, his lips against hers, and he was kissing her, mimicking what she’d done before with such precision she felt her legs go weak. But his strong arms held her to him as his mouth took hers. He was tasting her and she him, and she knew, Diana knew it was a taste she wouldn’t soon forget.

It was a taste she didn’t want to forget.

They clung to each other as if finding newfound strength in each other’s arms and she knew he was feeling it too—that magnetic attraction that she’d been ignoring. It was there, pulling her to him.

They stood, each unwilling to release the other, and they didn’t need to.

Right then, it was only the two of them.

As the rain fell, washing away the dirt and grime of the night before, they clung to each other, lips entwined as the rain wet them both.

His lips were like sugar, his tongue like honey. Smooth and demanding, his kiss was making her entire body flood with need.

And she could feel his need too. It was against her leg; a hardness that was pressing against her, demanding its own attention.

Yce.

She sighed against his lips as they kissed.

She wanted him. She wasn’t going to deny it anymore.

When he opened his eyes and looked at her, she stared back at him, unable to look away.

And for once, his gaze wasn’t unnerving. No. The strangeness of his white eyes lit a new fire within her. One she wasn’t sure she wanted to ever put out.

* * *

When the rain stopped and Yce finally released her, she let her hands slip from around his neck.

She wasn’t usually one to be lost for words, but what the hell was that?

What had she just done? What had they just done?

There was a lot to say, yet neither said anything.

“We should continue trekking.” Yce let his hands fall to his sides as his gaze fell over her.

They were still standing so close that her nipples were against his chest. If she even as much as sighed, they’d brush against his hard blue pectorals and the thought alone was making them hard.

Diana cleared her throat.

“Yes.” She grabbed the now soaked cloth bag in her hands. Their pants were both soaked, but she slipped hers on again. She had no top to wear—there was no way she was going to put on that plant skin again. Not after what happened last night.

She didn’t want anything to do with those plants again.

She’d just have to walk with her hands crossed over her chest to hide her breasts somewhat and hope the suns dried her pants fast.

The good thing was that the rain had washed away all the slime and she was mostly clean, as clean as she was going to get without a proper shower.

Yce turned and grabbed his blade from somewhere in the sand, and Diana almost gasped audibly.

It was there. Undeniably there.

She knew she’d felt it but seeing it was another thing.

His erection was a glorious sight to behold. Even behind his trousers, it was stretching the fabric and its outline was clear.

Biting back a whimper as a lightning bolt shot straight to her clit, Diana squeezed her eyes shut for a second before turning and following in his footsteps.

It was stretching his pants like a rod of correction and boy had she been a bad girl. Bad enough to need a spanking. Preferably with that rod in a certain place.

Taking a deep breath, she cleared her throat.

She didn’t know what that kiss was or where it came from but it didn’t automatically mean there’d be any romance between them. Their objective was the same as at the start of the mission.

Get to the outpost.

Contact the rest of the Restitution.

That’s what they were supposed to do.

They were walking for a few minutes and the silence was becoming deafening.

She didn’t understand him.

Was he going to say nothing?

And how could he be so...different from what she’d expected?

He had used his mind against her and she’d hated him for doing it but he was the absolute opposite from what she thought he was.

“Why did you drug me?”

His steps faltered for a second and he turned to look at her. “Drug you?”

“When you altered my mind on the Isclit ship. Why did you do it?”

He took a few seconds to just look at her and she couldn’t read his eyes. They were back to being unreadable white pools.

“‘Drug’ makes it sound bad.” He was watching her closely and Diana crossed her arms tighter over her chest, hiding her nipples so only the mounds of her breasts could be seen.

“It was bad. Don’t you understand that?”

He blinked but didn’t answer.

“Where I come from, that’s a terrible thing to do. People do it to others they want to control, usually for very, very bad reasons. People do it when they want to take away your freedom.”

“I didn’t consider it in such a way. I did it to protect everyone. I needed to be focused or the mission would fail.”

“Surely, you could have just explained this to me back then. You—” She was suddenly feeling emotional and the emotions were strong. Taking a deep breath, she continued. “You have no idea how it made me feel finding out that I had no control over anything.”

Her blue eyes met his and she was surprised by what she saw in his.

He was bewildered. Even on his alien face, that emotion was clear, and it was only when the tear ran down her face that she realized just how upset she was.

He was in front of her in a second.

“I did not mean to hurt you.” His voice echoed the regret that was in his eyes. Raising his hand to her cheek, he wiped her tear away with a finger and she let him.

“It’s not just you. I just hate it. I hate it.”

He stared at her for a second, his gaze searching her face.

“You have been hurt,” he finally uttered, and she shook her head.

“No, I’m just upset.”

“No.” He raised her chin and forced her to meet his gaze. “You have been hurt. A long time ago.”

Diana gulped and for a second, a sliver of fear ran through her before being replaced with anger.

“Get out of my head,” she said through gritted teeth.

“I don’t have to be in your head. It is in your eyes.” His gaze searched hers and it felt as if he was looking deep into her soul.

It made her feel...vulnerable. She wanted to pull away from him but couldn’t.

“Let me see,” he said, as he rested his palms on either side of her head.

“What—what are you going to do?” But she knew exactly what he meant. Yet, she didn’t stop him.

No one knew of her past hurt. At least, no one in her adult life.

Her stepfather was dead, her mother died before she was even old enough to remember her, and after she’d ran away from home to stay with her aunt, she’d never spoken of the horrors that happened in her bedroom every night.

And now, this alien, this man, he was asking to see back into those days, to find the fuel to her fire, and she wasn’t stopping him.

Instead, something inside her wanted him to. Something inside her wanted to share the pain that had fueled her to fight all these years.

It would be the first time sharing it with anyone, and somehow, it felt right sharing it with him.

She could feel a slight fuzziness in her mind and she knew it was him. It was oddly relaxing, almost like a massage and she could almost forget for a second about the thoughts that he was about to see.

As she began to remember the events that occurred between her and her stepfather back in that little room in Minnesota, she fought back the tears and pain the memories held.

Staring into Yce’s eyes, she refused to let another tear fall.

She was stronger than that now.

She was bigger than that.

But as her memories floated in her mind, she saw the anger grow in his face. It was so strong that his lips curled into a snarl.

But then, as the memories continued to her running away and then finding strength and becoming a woman, his face slowly changed.

First, she saw pity reflect there and she almost pulled away from him.

The last thing she wanted him to feel was pity for her.

That was one thing she didn’t want anyone to feel for her.

She didn’t want anyone’s pity.

But soon, his expression changed to sadness and then to something else...awe.

As his hands slowly fell from her temples, he blinked while still staring at her intently.

“I must apologize.” He seemed to be struggling with finding the right words because he paused and just looked back at her for a few seconds more. “I am not like that man.”

A sad laugh bubbled through her. “I know you’re not like him. I just...”

How could she explain it?

“This is why you hate me.” His eyes were still searching hers so earnestly she almost smiled.

“Yes.” But he knew she didn’t really hate him right? She’d tried. She couldn’t.

His gaze faltered and she saw pain cross his face.

“I am sorry, Diana. It was never my intention to hurt you.”

Diana nodded, a small smile crossing her lips. She realized he hadn’t meant to.

“It seems there are demons everywhere across our universe.” His whisper was so low she almost didn’t hear what he said.

“What do you mean?”

He met her gaze again. “The Tasqals. What they do to women. To entire worlds. It is similar to what you experienced with that human male.”

Oh. She understood what he meant now.

“I wouldn’t call them demons.”

“What would you call them?”

“Pure. Scum.”

Chapter Twenty-Two

They’d continued walking and the suns were beating down on them like wicked, unrelenting masters.

She’d already eaten two of the food packets and had given one to Yce. To her surprise, he’d taken the food without a fight this time.

“We’re close,” she heard him say as he stopped walking suddenly, raising the arm with the blade in the air.

As he let out a whistle, Diana caught up with him to see what was ahead.

A cloud of dust was approaching them and for a second, she thought it was a mini twister, but as whatever it was came closer, she realized it was...

What the hell were those?

They looked like huge...dragons? Only they were snakes? Like two large black anacondas with massive thorny heads like that of a dragon.

“What in the actual Drogon...” Without realizing it, she gripped Yce’s arm.

Had he raised his hand to signal that she should be ready to fight?

Fight...those?

Diana raised her wide eyes to his but Yce looked completely relaxed, now shielding his eyes from the suns as he watched the creatures approach.

“Shouldn’t we run?” She glanced back at the things approaching and her heart hammered in her chest, fight-or-flight mode activated.

“Not this time.” She could see the anticipation in his eyes but her heart didn’t slow down.

The closer they came, the larger the creatures became and she couldn’t help but feel every hair on her body stand up from her skin.

But there was something else.

Diana squinted as she looked closer at the approaching creatures.

It must be her eyes but it seemed as if the creatures had little seats on their backs? Rows of seats and there were people in them.

Well, not people. Clearly not people.

There were no people on this god-forsaken planet, apart from her and the others. Only aliens.

As they came close enough for Yce’s voice to reach them, he spoke in a language she did not understand and she heard one of the aliens on the back of Daenerys’ lost sons respond.

The creatures slowed to a stop, causing sand to kick up into the air and Diana covered her nose and shielded her face.

When the sand settled, she realized Yce was already walking forward and several little men were jumping from the snake-dragons to land on the ground, little spears in their hands.

They spoke excitedly but she couldn’t understand a word. She was more distracted by the snake-dragon that was close to her.

It blinked its large eyes at her before resting its head in the sand. Just like that, it was as if the plates that covered its skin flipped and the thing became almost transparent.

Diana’s eyes widened.

The other snake-dragon did the same thing and she took a few steps backward.

Yeaaaa...nope.

The chattering of the newcomers drew her attention again and she realized Yce was now having a deep conversation with them.

She noticed something else.

They were...tiny.

She reckoned if she stood beside one, he would reach her at the knee.

They were brown, varying degrees of brown, almost the color of the sand. She guessed she could say they were sandy then. There were six of them, all wearing little robes the exact color of the sand. Paired with their little round bald heads, they reminded her of little monks. Except, monks didn’t carry spears and monks didn’t look at her the way they were looking at her now.

As all the newcomers turned to look at her at the same time, she assumed the conversation had turned to her. And they were frowning.

Covering her nipples by folding her hands across her chest, Diana cleared her throat and glanced at Yce.

“They say a being like you was in one of their outposts recently,” he explained.

For a second, she was confused then she realized who it must have been.

“Athena.”

“Yes,” Yce confirmed. “They will bring us back to their outpost. It is not far from here.”

“Ok.” Sounded good but she was still eyeing them cautiously, in the same way they were eyeing her.

As the little men began climbing up on the snake-dragons, Diana glanced at Yce.

“I’m supposed to get on that thing?”

“They are the fastest way to travel on this land.” He must have seen her hesitation because he continued. “You will be safe.”

“Sounds like some famous last words right there.” She eyed the creatures again before taking a few steps forward.

They were so huge; she wondered how men as tall as her knee managed to climb on the things. But closer inspection gave her an answer.

The little men seemed to have some kind of suction on their hands, allowing them to hang on to the sides of the creatures as they climbed up.

As she reached the closest creature, she looked up at the little seats.

It wasn’t so terrifying now that she wasn’t standing near the animal’s head but it was still large and intimidating.

As she looked for a way to climb up, she felt Yce’s arms surround her waist as he lifted her high enough for her to grab onto one of the seats.

A small yelp left her lips, the movement unexpected and the feel of his skin against hers making her tingle.

As he let her go, she almost felt disappointed but brushed it off as he hoisted himself up to sit beside her.

The large creatures began moving, the little men in robes sitting in front as they directed the animals where to go.

“What are these things?” She glanced at Yce only to find that he had his eyes on her already.

It was strange, the sudden need she felt to brush her hair behind her ear and look away. Pushing away the thought, she held his gaze.

“Uloms,” he replied, his gaze never leaving hers.

His eyes were gorgeous. So surreal, mystical almost, but so gorgeous.

“They seem like the only thing on this planet not trying to kill us.”

“They would. But these have been tamed by the Mukkians.” A soft smile passed through his eyes and Diana found she was staring, transfixed.

Did he feel it?

The growing tension between them?

Was she just imagining it?

But as his gaze dropped to her naked chest, she got her answer.

No, she wasn’t imagining things.

It was there, thick in the air.

Logic told her she shouldn’t, but she wanted nothing more than to explore the feeling further. And that was a surprise to her.

At the start of this trip, when they were falling from the sky in a ship that was doomed, the last thing that had crossed her mind was that she’d start developing feelings for the tall blue alien she was stuck with.

But here she was.

She’d never been a follower of logic anyway.

This proved it.

The creatures moved quickly across the sand and it felt good not having to walk anymore. The amount of walking she’d done had been enough exercise to last for a few days. She was used to exercising so at least her body hadn’t been neglected in that sense.

Glancing at her feet, she almost winced at how red they were. Even wearing Yce’s boots hadn’t given them enough time to recuperate.

As she remembered him giving her his boots to wear, she smiled faintly.

That had been kind as she could see that his feet were red too. The sand was so coarse it affected even his alien soles.

The little men let out a shout that grabbed her attention.

Raising her eyes, Diana shielded them from the suns as she realized they were approaching a large structure.

It wasn’t like anything she’d ever seen before.

It looked like a circular camp with walls made of...glass? It looked like glass so she guessed the Mukkians had a way of making use of the sand that dominated this desert planet.

As they got closer, she spotted more little bald men with spears on little towers dotting the perimeter of the camp and one of them raised his spear as they approached, signaling something to what she assumed was another Mukkian below.

They all looked alike, these little brown men and she wondered if the women looked the same. She could only imagine little round women wearing robes and busying themselves within the camp. It was a cute image, but she needed to remind herself that if these little men could tame a creature as large as the one she was riding on, then they weren’t as “cute” as she imagined.

“This is the outpost,” she heard Yce say and she nodded. She was too busy taking it all in.

The large glass gates opened and the creatures entered smoothly.

If she’d thought there wouldn’t be a lot of little Mukkians about, she’d been wrong. They were everywhere and a crowd was gathering around the creatures as soon as they stopped moving in the middle of the camp.

The Mukkians were coming from mounds and little caves dotted all around as they came to see what was happening.

There was a low murmur passing throughout the crowd and they all seemed to know Yce, welcoming him with raised spears and what she assumed were war cries as he hopped off the uloms to the ground below.

He spoke to them easily, grinning as he did. He was obviously fond of them and, to her, they seemed like little kids crowding around someone they admired in the way they all looked up at him in awe.

Yet again, however, she couldn’t understand a word they were saying. The translator the Isclits had implanted didn’t seem to understand their language.

As Yce turned to her, extending his hands to lift her down, she was about to say to him that she could jump down on her own. But glancing down, she realized there was no space for her to do so. The little men had taken up every inch of space around the uloms and if she jumped, she’d no doubt landed on a few of them—not exactly the nicest way for her to introduce herself.

As Yce lifted her down, her naked breasts pressed against his chest and she was sure she heard him inhale sharply.

He held her for a few seconds too long and she heard a whisper spread across the little group of men.

Making a sound that sounded like he cleared his throat, Yce released her and she crossed her arms over her chest again.

She needed to find a blouse and fast, she thought, glancing around at the little men. But they didn’t seem concerned about the fact that most of her breasts were bare.

Instead, they were murmuring among each other and nodding, looking from Yce to Diana.

When she glanced at Yce, he was looking at her with caution in his gaze and something else...discomfort?

“What are they saying?” Her brows furrowed as she asked.

“You cannot understand them?” His brows furrowed slightly as well.

“No. I can only hear alien language.” She touched behind her ear as she spoke. She could feel the spot where the Isclits had implanted the translator. It was a raised bump underneath her skin.

“Ah,” he said, and his shoulders relaxed a little.

Diana’s eyes widened slightly as her suspicion rose. “What are they saying?”

“You don’t want to know.” Yce laughed and it was a nervous laugh.

Her eyes widened further. “Is it something bad?”

He sobered and looked at her again, taking his own sweet time before he answered. His gaze was holding hers and she could feel the air thicken with tension again.

“It depends on what you want it to be,” he finally said.

And what the hell did that mean?

One of the little men pushed through the crowd and spoke to Yce loudly, motioning to one of the caves to the side.

“They have a space ready for us.” Yce turned to her and made that sound as if he cleared his throat again.

As he led the way to the cave, the tiny men parted to let them pass.

Diana eyed the little cave opening. She’d have to crouch to get inside it. She could just imagine how claustrophobic the inside would be. But she was wrong.

The cave opened up to elaborate living quarters, big enough for even Yce to stand upright in.

“They will prepare meals for us,” he said, turning to her.

Inadvertently, she licked her lips at the thought of food. That and a shower was what she needed.

“Would they by chance have a shower I could borrow?”

She glanced around the cave. It had a flat raised area with dried zehmip skins laid all over it and she assumed that was the sleeping area.

Apart from that, there were glass stools and a glass table. Above them, glass lanterns hung from the ceiling.

It was like walking into some kind of ethnic enclave on Earth.

“There.” Yce motioned to a hole in the cave wall that seemed to lead to somewhere else. “I must send a message to the Restitution while you wash yourself.”

Diana nodded and flashed him a smile.

It felt nice to finally be somewhere safe, but she didn’t know if she should trust the feeling. She’d had a few minutes of feeling safe on the Elysium and then they’d been attacked.

Space was fucking scary.

As she headed to the shower area though, a feeling within her told her that things would be okay from now on.

And she was going to trust that feeling.

Chapter Twenty-Three

She was out of the shower and sitting cross-legged on the zehmip skins.

Diana.

Hjek-haired Diana whose supple body melted like the softest cyusso against his.

That Diana.

Wild Diana.

Unpredictable Diana.

There were still water droplets on her skin, which told him she’d just exited the shower. He could smell the sirj crystals she’d used to wash her skin. He wanted to go closer to smell them some more. Maybe run his nose in the valley between those perfect mounds on her chest.

He could still feel her body pressed against his, the memory of the rain falling down on them and the warmth of her skin against his.

He was hard again. Straining against his pants and he couldn’t just stand looking at her like a creep.

Entering the cave, she raised her head and smiled at him.

She was smiling more now, he realized, and it wasn’t helping the situation in his pants.

Muttering to her that he was going to wash himself as well, he exited the room.

Standing underneath the cold shower, he knew his mind should be on the next phase of the mission—getting them to the Restitution’s headquarters where they’d be safe.

But his mind, his thoughts, they were on the hjek-haired creature sitting on the zehmip skins in the other room.

She was getting under his skin. Or maybe, she’d been under his skin for a long time and he just didn’t realize.

He let the water flow from his hair down over his skin as he lifted his head to the spray.

The little Mukkians had dug deep underground to tap into the water table just to access this water. They were ingenious, the little species. And nosy.

A chuckle erupted within him as he remembered what they’d been saying when he’d lifted Diana from the ulom.

They were sure she was his mate.

Apparently, word had spread that a member of the Restitution had fallen for a being from an unknown planet. He reckoned that Xul had been the cause of that news and now, seeing Diana with him, they’d automatically assumed she was his mate too.

They had eyed her, saying she looked to be a strong mate for a warrior and predicting that if they had children, their young would be quite interesting to behold.

That had made him somewhat uncomfortable.

Young?

Children?

He hadn’t seen those in his future. Carrying on his bloodline had never been in his plans.

He had left that task to his blood brothers back on his home planet.

Yet, he couldn’t help but wonder what it would be like.

What would their child look like if he and Diana were to mate and she bore his spawn?

Would it have his white hair and eyes? Would the neurons run underneath the baby’s skin? Would it have red hair like its mother?

Would it be logical and calculated or would it be as wild as Diana?

The image of a little red-haired child with white irises and Diana’s smile came in his head and, to his surprise, it made him…happy.

If only.

Wrapping a towel around his midsection, he carried his pants in his hand and he exited the shower.

She was still sitting cross-legged and now she was doing something to her hair. It seemed she’d found a comb somewhere because she was fixing the strands and didn’t raise her head to acknowledge his presence.

Hanging his pants on the outside of the cave to dry, he sat on one of the glass stools and watched her work on her hair.

She was running the comb through the long hjek strands and when she was satisfied, she brought them all towards the nape of her neck and was doing some kind of intricate tying.

He sat mesmerized as he watched her and when she finally looked at him, she paused.

“What is it? Why are you looking at me like that?”

Yce blinked. He hadn’t realized he’d been staring.

“Your hair. What have you done to it?”

“This?” She reached back and touched her hair almost subconsciously. “I braided it.”

“Braid?” He’d never heard of the word.

“You’ve never braided yours before? It’s so long.” She was looking at him as if he was an alien. “Come. I’ll do it for you.”

He hesitated for a second.

He was hardly clothed and she as well. She had a towel draped around her body but it was hardly any covering, the material so thin he could still see her soft pink skin underneath.

And his cock...he was still hard.

He was about to make an excuse not to go closer to her but his legs began moving on their own, as if pulled by some magnetic field he could neither see nor control.

Sitting in front of her on the bedding, he waited stiffly.

She was going to touch him. Only, this time, he knew it was coming. He was expecting it. Heck, he was anticipating it.

He could feel her fingers in his hair now. Such soft touches as if she was afraid to hurt him.

“Your hair is...different. It shimmers almost,” she said.

He didn’t answer. Not that he didn’t want to converse but his efforts were more focused on concealing the tent growing above his groin.

“And so soft too,” she murmured, as she ran the comb through his hair.

As she began doing this braid of hers, her fingers brushed against the nape of his neck and Yce closed his eyes.

There was something strange about this...something almost...intimate.

It took him a few minutes to realize she was finished but her hands still rested on his shoulders.

“Yce?” Her voice was but a whisper.

“Yes, Diana.” He turned slightly and immediately realized how close they were. His face was inches away from hers and his gaze fell to her lips.

And then it hit him; it hit him hard. It was a soft hum, her thoughts, but the longer he stared at her lips the clearer they became.

She wanted him to touch her. Wondered what it would feel like. She was curious.

As was he.

As the reality became clear, his gaze shot to hers and he saw it in her eyes too.

Did she have any idea what she was projecting? Did she have any idea he could feel what she was thinking?

The tension he’d felt between them was back again. Thick in the air, so much so he could probably slice it with his blade.

“You...” He began then stopped.

Instead of speaking, he’d show her she wasn’t alone with these feelings.

* * *

Diana’s breath hitched in her throat as she watched him move closer.

She couldn’t move away. She didn’t want to.

Closing the distance between their lips, Yce settled his mouth against hers tentatively and she sighed against him.

Butterflies fluttered in her stomach as he kissed her and then she was being pushed back onto the bedding.

On her back, he paused as he leaned over her and when she opened her eyes, she felt herself clench.

He was fucking handsome. Now with his hair pulled back from his face he was even more of a stunner.

He dipped his head then nibbled her ear before moving down her neck and Diana trembled underneath him.

His mouth was warm. So darn warm and his kisses felt so good.

She could feel her nipples harden underneath the sheer towel as her body begged for him to kiss them.

As if reading her mind, his kisses trailed over her collarbone down to the barrier the towel made and stopped there.

Lowering her eyes to see why he stopped, she realized he was looking at her, his face paused above the valley between her breasts.

White eyes glistened and the network of tattoos underneath his skin seemed to glow.

“You want me to continue?” His voice was hoarse and it only made her clench again.

“Yes.” It came out as a whisper because she didn’t trust herself to speak properly.

But even with her permission, he didn’t continue.

Something passed through his eyes as he continued looking at her.

“But you hate me.”

Diana swallowed hard.

She didn’t hate him but she knew he knew that. He had to.

“I hate it when you do things to me,” she replied.

Another look passed through his eyes and she was sure it was mischief.

“You hate it when I do this?” He rose above her again, his muscles flexing and Diana inhaled deeply as his lips touched hers again.

His kiss was soft, undemanding, yet urgent.

She’d only shown him once, yet he was kissing her exactly the way she liked to be kissed.

His lips sent tingles down her spine and echoed in her pussy as she clenched again.

She was already moist, she could feel it.

Breaking the kiss, he looked deep into her eyes and Diana couldn’t help it. She wanted more.

“So?” he asked, the mischief still in his eyes.

“So what?” She was almost breathless and that was weird.

It was just a kiss.

“You hate it?” He raised an eyebrow.

Hiding her smile, she answered, “Yes. I hate it so much.”

Yce seemed to nod.

“And this?”

Before she could react, his head dipped to her ear and she felt his hot tongue surround her earlobe before he took the soft skin between his lips, sucking on it lightly.

Diana gasped softly. Never had something so simple felt so good.

“I fucking hate that too,” she said breathlessly.

“And this?” Yce moved his kiss down her neck again before reaching the towel.

Taking the fabric into his mouth he pulled it down from over her breasts slowly and when her breasts were bare, he paused to stare at them.

He was looking at them as if he would devour them. There were no inhibitions in his gaze. It was like he was looking at something so gorgeous it would hold his attention for eons.

The attention made her insides warm and she felt her clit respond.

She’d never had anyone look at her like that before.

His gaze was so...primal. Almost possessive.

She heard him groan as he dipped his head, flattening his tongue as he licked one of her nipples and Diana moaned against him.

“Yes,” she whimpered, “I hate that.”

“Mmm,” he replied, taking the entire nipple into his mouth as he sucked on it lightly.

Diana’s eyelids fluttered closed, the vibration of his moan echoing against her nipple and she arched her back to his lips.

“I want to touch you,” he growled.

“I’d hate it if you didn’t.”

She could feel his hand moving slowly up her leg before he planted his palm over her center and another moan echoed through him.

“Yce,” she whimpered. Remembering her dream, she’d never wanted something so bad as how she wanted him right now.

His fingers dipped between the folds to find her pussy and as a finger slipped in, he moved his lips to the other breast.

Diana gasped again, groaning as he pushed another finger deep inside her and began pumping slowly.

But it wasn’t his fingers she wanted.

“I know,” he murmured against her breasts and if she wasn’t so horny, she’d have flushed red.

“You’re reading my mind.”

“It’s hard not to when your body calls out to me,” he answered, moving his lips lower.

As he ripped away the towel and threw it somewhere in the room, his eyes fell to where his fingers were and she saw him pause.

The hunger that grew within his gaze was obvious, almost palpable. If she’d thought he’d looked at her breasts in awe before, the way he was looking at her pussy now was as if he was seeing something absolutely beautiful.

“Yce?” Again her voice was a whisper and he seemed to pull his gaze away from her cunt with much effort.

“Is something wrong?” She had the thought to clamp her legs closed, but he was settled between them and there was no way she could close her legs without getting up completely.

“You have hair there,” he said, his eyes falling back between her legs.

She opened her mouth to respond, but he continued.

“You’re beautiful.” His eyes met hers again and Diana felt her cheeks warm. The hunger in his eyes was so intense it was as if she suddenly realized that he was a big, strong, alien male.

“I want to…” His eyes searched hers. “I want to taste you.”

“Yce,” she murmured watching, mouth slightly open, as he dipped his head between her legs.

Her moan was loud as she felt his hot mouth envelop her clit.

“Oh God,” she breathed.

“So beautiful.” His muffled words reached her ear from between her inner lips as he kissed her there. His two fingers continued working within her as he flattened his tongue and licked her from her entrance to the top of her clit once, twice, three times, till she was moaning so loudly she couldn’t hear his own moans as he closed his mouth around her and sucked deeply.

“Yce,” she cried out. She was close. If he didn’t stop, she was going to cum and she hadn’t had the chance to touch him yet.

As he paused and raised his eyes to hers, that possessed look was still there and it was so fucking hot she felt herself clench around his fingers.

“You’re gorgeous,” he said, licking his lips as his gaze fell back to her pussy.

Using the other hand, he flicked his finger over her clit.

Diana gasped at the contact, a shudder running through her. He still hadn’t stopped pumping his fingers within her and she was sure the combination of his heated gaze and what he was doing with his fingers was going to end her soon.

“Your bud here.” He flicked his finger over her clit again. “And your buds here.” He raised his hand to grasp a breast underneath his palm as he played with a nipple.

“Yce,” she whimpered, trying to focus on what he was saying.

“They are different,” he said. “Bigger.” His gaze seemed to become even hotter. “Better,” he said, dipping his head to take her clit into his mouth again.

With the hand on her breast kneading it while he pumped her with his fingers and sucked on her swollen clit, Yce raised his white gaze to hers and Diana became undone.

Squirming on his fingers, she clenched against him as an orgasm rocked through her.

Her creamy juice spread over his fingers and she watched as if in a trance as Yce raised his fingers to his lips and cleaned her juices with his tongue.

If she wasn’t already shuddering through an orgasm, the image alone would have made her come again.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Falling back against the bedding, Diana took a few deep breaths.

Fuck.

He’d made her come.

But he wasn’t finished yet, she realized, as he laid beside her, pulling her naked body against his as he buried his face into her neck.

“Beautiful, wild Diana,” he said and she felt it then. The hardness poking against her leg.

She’d been so caught up in her own pleasure she hadn’t realized he’d been nursing a hard-on the entire time.

Through the sheerness of the towel, she could feel he was hard, thick, and long. Still in the throes of her orgasm, she couldn’t resist reaching back and touching him through the towel.

As soon as her hand made contact, she felt him stiffen against her.

“You don’t have to,” he said.

Oh, but she wanted to.

She wanted to so bad that she’d dreamed about it and his cock had been haunting her subconscious ever since.

“Can’t you feel that?” She turned to him. “Can’t you feel those thoughts?”

She watched his gaze fall to her lips before moving back to her eyes and it was hard to believe he’d just had his head between her legs.

This gorgeous man had just brought her to orgasm with his mouth.

The thought of it was making her wet again.

“Yes,” he answered her question and it was his turn to inhale deeply as she pulled the towel from over his hips.

“Damn,” she breathed, swallowing hard as his cock bobbed against her, no longer held back by the material.

“What is it?” His voice was hoarse again.

“It’s bigger.” She echoed his words. “Better.” It was her turn to look at him, hunger in her eyes.

His cock was a long thick blue rod. The same neurons that ran under his skin were networked underneath the skin of his cock and as she ran her hand along the length of him, they seemed to glow in response. His cock had a thick rounded head, and as she stared at it he jerked against her hand, a drop of fluid appearing at the top.

His thick tip led to a ribbed shaft. It was like three mushroom ridges stacked one on top of the other and she could just imagine sliding over them, how deliciously good they’d feel.

But as she ran her hand lower, she realized the lower she went, the thicker he seemed to get. His tip was already like a fist she couldn’t imagine how far the rest of him would stretch her.

Climbing atop him, Diana settled on his groin, feeling the delicious jerk of his cock against her pussy.

The hunger was still in his eyes as he rested his hands against her hips.

She didn’t need to say a word.

They both knew what the other refrained to say.

She was settled over him, her pussy lips spread over his hardness and as she began sliding up and down, rubbing her juices along his hardness, her eyes fluttered closed as she moaned.

He felt so good. It was hard not rising above him and impaling herself on him.

“Diana,” he groaned as his head fell back against the bedding. His chi was glowing, swirling a rainbow of colors and his eyes were glowing too.

As she slid up to his mushroom, before slowly guiding her hips back down to his base, she watched as his eyes rolled over in his head and he shuddered against her.

Fuck. She could come like this if she continued. But she wanted to feel him inside her.

She needed to feel him inside her.

Rising above him, she grabbed the base of his cock as she guided him to her entrance.

It was electric, that first contact.

As his mushroom slipped into her slick, wet, cunt, Diana threw her head back.

Fuck. He was thick, but it felt oh so good.

She could feel herself being stretched as she slowly lowered over him and she was sure there was no way she was going to take him all.

“Diana,” he growled and with her lashes low, she gazed at him. His eyes were devouring every inch of her.

She was only half-way over his cock but it felt as if she was stretched thin. And the feeling was…indescribable.

So this was what she was missing out on? Fuck. Size did matter.

Her body was already shivering with pleasure and she hadn’t even started riding him yet. Instead, she was paused with him half-way inside her, unable to move because the sensations were too strong.

“Let me take you.” His voice was low. “I will do so slowly.”

Shit. She couldn’t even speak.

Nodding, she let him hold on to her hips as they switched positions, not allowing his cock to slip from her warmth.

As her back hit the bedding, she looked up at him, writhing her hips slowly.

His eyes rolled back in his head again as he gritted his teeth.

“Diana,” he growled. “My wild, gorgeous Diana.”

He lifted her legs then, resting his arms on the insides of her thighs as he gazed down at her swollen cunt.

Another growl left him as he eased himself further into her and she found herself biting down hard on her bottom lip as a scream of pleasure left her.

He started thrusting slowly, allowing her juices to coat him, and with each small thrust he went a little deeper and a little deeper till she was sure she could feel him in her belly. But the feeling had never felt so good.

As his tempo increased, she could hardly see a thing now and she wasn’t sure if she was going blind or if it was that her eyes were just rolled back in her head.

All she knew was that her entire body was tingling with pleasure and that she was shuddering.

As another orgasm rocked through her, it felt as if she was having a seizure. Her entire body was shaking uncontrollably, and as he pumped those last few thrusts deep inside her, she felt him stiffen and call her name.

This.

This was.

Bliss.

Chapter Twenty-Five

Diana woke with a yawn.

She’d been wrapped up in his arms after they’d been too exhausted to move.

It was the perfect place to be.

He was warm, strong, protective.

It felt good.

He’d found more towels somewhere and had draped it across their bodies just before the Mukkians had bustled in with food.

As the little men moved within arm’s reach of the bed, Diana found it hard to meet their inquisitive gazes.

“They heard us, didn’t they?”

Yce wrapped around her and pulled her closer. “They are pretty sexless. They don’t care.”

Well…despite that, she was sure they were staring.

“Here,” he said. “Eat.”

With one arm still draped around her waist, he was holding a plate in the other with what looked like some kind of fruit on it.

“That’s a fruit, is it?”

“Yes.” Yce studied her face. His gaze was relaxed. More relaxed than she’d ever seen him before. “It is very sweet.”

Taking a bite of the yellow fruit, Diana’s eyes widened.

It was delicious.

“Just where do they get fruit like this? It is literally a desert out there.”

“They have an underground farm at every outpost. The Mukkians are quite an inventive lot.” He was watching her as she ate.

“Aren’t you going to eat?”

Something passed behind his eyes and somehow, it made her blush.

“I can only think of one thing I would like to taste again.”

The arm around her waist pulled her closer.

“I could have my mouth on your cunt for days.”

She must have flushed bright red.

“Are you deliberately saying that to me or are you the one projecting thoughts right now?”

Yce chuckled, before resting his nose on her shoulder.

“I feel like I have wasted time,” he said after a few seconds.

“Hmm? Why?” She had moved on from the fruit to another plate he was offering her. This one was equally delicious and her taste buds were savoring the new taste.

“I have wasted time with you.”

That made her stop eating to glance at him as she waited for him to continue.

He seemed to sigh before nuzzling further into her neck.

“I like this, Diana. I like you and…” He paused again. “I want more.”

“More sex?”

“No.” He raised his head from her neck then to look at her pointedly. “This isn’t about sex. I want you.”

Diana blinked, the food falling from her fingers to land on the plate as she turned to face him fully.

They sat there for a moment, searching each other’s gazes but she knew what he meant.

She wanted more too. More of him.

“You are life,” he finally said.

“I thought you said I was wild.” A smile parted her lips as his eyes glowed for a second.

“You are. But it is you. It is who you are. Your wildness is life. And I like it.”

Diana huffed out a soft laugh. The happiness on her face was real.

“So this is how you win a woman’s heart, huh? You fuck her then feed her.” She began chuckling as bewilderment passed across his face momentarily.

“Is it working?”

That made her burst out laughing.

“Yes.” She chuckled as he pinned her down and began kissing her neck. “It is.”

“I want you, Diana.”

“Now? Again? So soon?” Her eyes widened as her laughter slowly died.

“I would have you every minute if I could.”

His words were making her hot again and she wondered if he knew it.

“We should eat first.”

That made his gaze drop to her groin and Diana felt the heat there immediately.

“I will eat you then,” he murmured, as his head dipped between her legs.

Chapter Twenty-Six

When she woke again, she was alone. The only indication that she hadn’t been alone all along being the warm spot left beside her on the bed.

Rubbing her eyes, Diana sat up and looked around.

He’d left more food for her to finish and beside the food were her pants. They were dry now.

Slipping them over her legs, she realized there was something else there too. It looked like one of the little Mukkians’ robes. Lifting the garment, she realized it was a modified version of one of their robes. It was slightly bigger and looked like a hoodie.

Slipping it over her head, she looked down at herself. It would do.

There was also a clean towel. Lifting the “hoodie,” she wrapped the towel around her breasts to create a sort of bra. It was just enough support to go through the day. It would have to do.

As the hoodie settled back over her, she finally felt clothed…minus the panties.

There were even wooden slippers made from zehmip stalks.

Smiling, she shook her head.

It must have been Yce who had left the clothes out for her. He had probably organized it while she’d been sleeping.

He was thoughtful in a way she didn’t expect.

As she exited the little cave, she realized the suns were still up. All around her, the Mukkians were busy going about their daily activities.

In one corner, some were tanning what looked like sand-cat hides. In another, some were drying meat. Some were sharpening spears, and others were standing as lookouts along the perimeter wall.

But Yce was nowhere to be seen.

As she stepped out into the open, some of the little men glanced at her but she was mostly ignored. They were busy.

Where was he?

One of the little men atop a tower shouted something down at her, but she couldn’t understand him. He then beckoned with his spear, pointing outside the enclosure.

Ah. She got the hint.

Maybe he was telling her Yce was outside.

As she approached the large gates, they opened enough for her to step outside and she realized she was right.

Long, white hair glistened and spun in the air as Yce practiced with his blade. As she approached him, there was no indication he realized she was there. His intense focus was on twirling the blade.

“You are awake.” His voice felt like it caressed her mind when she came within a few feet of him. “How did you sleep?”

“Better than I have in a while.” She could feel her body warm and it wasn’t the twin suns warming it.

He stopped what he was doing and turned to look at her. Small beads of sweat glistened on his chest and Diana found her eyes wandering.

“I am glad. You slept throughout the night.”

That made her eyes find his. “What?”

“You were very tired. That is why I did not wake you.”

“What do you mean by I slept throughout the night? You mean I was knocked out for a whole day?”

A twinkle passed through his white gaze. “Your body did go through a lot.” His voice was low and she knew exactly what he was referring to.

The heat she was feeling pooled in her cheeks.

Diverting the conversation, she looked down at her garments.

“Thank you for the clothes.”

“You are welcome.” As he spoke, he twirled the blade in his hands.

It was quiet out here. Almost serene. You wouldn’t believe that just behind them was a bustling settlement full of little beings.

“What are you doing out here anyway?”

He spun the blade again before planting it deep into the sand. Crossing his arms over his chest, he looked down at her, not hiding that his eyes were roving over her appreciatively.

“I am not so sure now,” he answered after a few moments, his eyes narrowed as he looked at her. “Maybe I should have stayed in bed.”

Hiding her smile, Diana reached down and picked up his blade.

“How do you use this?”

She had never been attracted to weapons. She’d always liked the thrill of using her own body, her own strength, to take down her opponent.

Weapons, swords, and knives mainly, seemed so dangerous to be twirling around.

“You wish for me to teach you?” His eyes glowed for a second and Diana could feel his anticipation.

He was different today. More relaxed.

She liked it.

“Sure.” She turned the blade over in her hand and looked at it. It was sharp and the metal glistened in the sunlight. It was lighter than she’d thought it would be.

“It is. Its weight helps if you want speed and accuracy,” Yce said, moving to stand behind her.

Reaching around, he placed his hands over hers and began guiding her arms into different movements.

“I can see why you like this,” she murmured, trying not to focus on the feel of his body behind hers. “It’s so light it feels like you’re not even using a weapon.”

“Yes.” His voice was close to her ear.

They did a few passes with the weapon as Yce showed her how to spin while slicing sideways, how to block, and how to crouch while driving the blade upward in one movement. She was sure she’d seen him do that last one with one of the sand cats.

“Do you like the weapon?” he asked, as she buried it into the sand.

“I guess. But I don’t really like weapons. I prefer using my hands.”

Yce chuckled. “I recall. A certain sand cat found that out the hard way.” He then sobered and looked at her strangely. “Where did you learn to fight like that?”

“It’s a form of martial arts on Earth. I train in a gym with a bunch of guys mainly.” She shrugged, almost missing the look in his eyes.

“You do what you were doing with the sand cat with human men?”

“Only a few women are at the gym where I train but there’s always a guy ready to spar.”

“I can’t guess why that would be.”

Catching the tone in his voice, Diana chuckled.

“Are you jealous?”

“Jealous?”

“It’s completely platonic, trust me.” When that didn’t change the expression on his face she continued. “Here, let me show you.”

Before Yce could respond, Diana charged at him, ducking underneath his arm to lock her hands together around his hamstrings. Pushing all her weight into the momentum of her thrust, she kept driving forward into him twisting her body until they both toppled to the warm sand beneath them.

As she raised her head, a chuckle on her lips, she realized Yce’s eyes mirrored confusion.

“Your fighting style confuses me,” he said. But as she laughed, he wrapped both arms around her and pulled her up towards his face. “But I like it,” he murmured, his lips brushing against hers. “Diana.”

It was a strange feeling. One that she never thought she’d be experiencing, especially not in the circumstances. But it felt…good.

It felt really good.

“Tomorrow, I go to retrieve my ship,” he said, his lips still brushing against hers. “You must stay here, where it is safe.”

Even before the words left his mouth fully, she knew what her response was going to be.

“No. I come with you.”

The thought of being alone without him so soon felt wrong. It wouldn’t work, not when they were just discovering each other.

Not when she was just discovering that she really, really liked him.

No, she’d go wherever he went.

His eyes searched hers for a moment before he nodded.

As he wrapped his arms around her, Diana settled against him.

This is where she wanted to be.

He was holding her tight and she didn’t want him to let go.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

She didn’t know how he remembered where the Elysium was buried, but as they set out, he seemed to know exactly where he was going. Their party consisted of six of the snake-dragons, all carrying two Mukkians each.

Diana smiled to herself as she watched Yce’s muscles flex underneath his skin as he relaxed on the seat beside her. The ulom they had boarded slithered through the sand beneath them with ease and it seemed as if it was going to be a smooth journey.

To think that at the start of their journey, she’d said she’d never be returning with him to dig up the ship. Life had a funny way of never going to plan. But, this time, she wouldn’t change the direction it was heading in for the world.

The snake-like creatures moved so quickly through the sand, the glass walls of the outpost were soon out of view and there was only sand ahead as far as her eyes could see.

Now that they had transport, she was happy they didn’t have to trek at night. Though, the heat of the twin suns in the daytime was hard to get used to.

She was already sweating.

Pulling up the hood of her top over her head to shield her face from the suns’ glare, she glanced at Yce to find his eyes glued to her.

Ever since they’d stripped their inhibitions, he hadn’t stopped staring at her as if he wanted to devour her at every second.

His gaze made her blush.

Never before had she had someone look at her with such obsession. It almost made her feel like a queen. His queen.

Traveling across the desert was long and tiring and as the snake-dragons slid through the sand, she realized just how far from the Elysium’s crash site they had trekked. As the suns beat down on them, she found herself dipping in and out of sleep.

When the uloms finally stopped moving seemingly in the middle of nowhere, the twin suns were already making their descent from the sky.

No time was being wasted. The twelve Mukkians that had accompanied them hopped off the snake-dragons and muttered among themselves excitedly.

As Yce hopped down, he spoke to them in their language and they began poking their spears in the sand beneath them.

For a few seconds, she wondered what they were doing, but then one of them exclaimed something and the others hurried over.

His spear had hit something and they all began digging in that spot.

As they excavated whatever it was, the undeniable white metal of the Elysium came into view.

Diana’s eyebrows rose. It was hard to believe the ship was right there. Who would have thought? Looking around, there was no indication that anything was buried beneath them and that made her wonder what else was hidden beneath the desert sands.

The Mukkians were muttering excitedly, obviously making plans among themselves as they got to work and, before long, she realized what they were doing.

Yce had mentioned that they were scavengers, but not scavengers in the usual sense. They scavenged for metal and space debris that fell onto the planet’s surface. As they set to work, it seemed they had all the tools they needed in chests tied to the uloms.

Soon, the little robed men had dug enough sand from around the Elysium to expose part of a damaged wing. From there, they seemed to determine where the front and back of the ship was and began digging again.

As Diana watched, she noticed Yce seemed distracted.

He was still waiting to hear back from the Restitution but she wasn’t sure that was what was bothering him.

Actually, he kept turning his eyes to the sky, his gem glowing as he surveyed the heavens. He was helping the Mukkians work, but every now and again, he stopped and the intensity of the glow in his eyes was increasing with every minute.

Night was coming in slowly, and she wondered if that was what was troubling him. Maybe he wanted them to be on their way back to the outpost before nightfall. She understood that. She was well over the inconvenience of this planet coming to life at night. Being within the walls of the outpost almost made her forget that outside was a survivor’s quest—one she didn’t miss.

Excited chatter from the Mukkians caught her attention and she watched them attach ropes to the uloms before tying the free ends around what she assumed was the back of the Elysium.

It was a big ship. Did they think these animals could tow it?

They were huge but...

“Diana.” Yce’s voice cut through her thoughts. His tone was…different and immediately a chill ran down her spine. He was standing now, his body tense, his eyes and gem glowing with intensity as he looked up above them.

“I am sorry.” He continued. “They are here.”

What?

Who?

Who was here?

But she didn’t need him to say anything further because in one movement his blade was by his side, unsheathed and ready.

The Mukkians must have also sensed something she didn’t because they too were suddenly alert. Their chatter was now lower than before but their little spears were ready in their hands.

Diana gripped the seat beneath her, her eyes scanning the desert.

She couldn’t see anything.

Everything seemed normal. There were no enemies approaching in the distance. No starships in the sky.

Then it hit them.

A deafening sound in the relative stillness of the desert.

It was a loud sort of horn, like a ship’s horn as it enters a dock, only it made the air around them vibrate.

A sort of wind began to swirl above them and Diana watched in horror as a sleek black jet materialized out of thin air.

The murmur among the Mukkians grew but now, even without being able to understand what they were saying, she could sense the urgency in their words.

Whoever this ship belonged to was not a friend and something told her she knew exactly who it was.

It looked to be similar to the fighter jets the Tasqals had commissioned to attack them from space. The same jets that had shot the Elysium down. The same jets that were the reason she was on Muk in the first place.

It was the Tasqals.

They’d found them.

One of the little men hopped up on the seat beside her, thrusting his spear towards her as he did.

Diana gulped, looking at the brown outstretched hand.

The spear was small. What did he expect her to do with such a little weapon?

By the looks of it, there was about to be a fight and the only thing the little spear looked like it could do was roast marshmallows.

It might annoy the gator-guards, if they were the ones in the ship, but she’d have to get really close to them for the spear to even tickle them.

The Mukkian motioned for her to take the weapon, speaking to her firmly and Diana nodded, accepting the little spear.

“Stay on the ulom. Lie low. You will be safe.”

Yce wasn’t looking at her but his voice was a comforting baritone in her head.

He was tense, his eyes glowing white and now so were the neurons underneath his skin. As he stalked forward, his muscles were firm in his back.

She could sense coldness from him…anger even, which was strange because his emotions had always seemed so closed off. But now, she was sure that those emotions weren’t her own. They were his. And they weren’t directed at her. They were directed at the ship above them.

As the ship descended, an opening appeared on its side and Diana gulped.

Gator-guards. She’d been right. She could see them standing at the door, ready to deplane.

She’d gotten so used to not seeing them that seeing them again made everything terrifying.

They didn’t wait.

As the gator-guards jumped from the ship, she was mildly aware of the Mukkians spreading out. There were dunes nearby and some of them headed for those.

Probably to hide.

But Yce stood firm. He walked into the open, away from the uloms and the Elysium.

“Yce! What are you doing?!” she shouted at him in her head, hoping he could hear her.

“Lie low. I will take the fight away from the uloms. It is all I can do right now to protect you.”

Wait. That was why he was leading them away?

Did he not realize how many of them there were?

“You can’t fight this alone!” she communicated back. She’d lost count of how many guards had hopped from the ship but her guess was that there were at least a dozen.

When was he going to realize that he was not alone anymore?

It was the two of them.

She was there with him.

Her heart pummeled against her chest as the gator-guards deplaned. There were so many of them. The last time she’d seen so many was when they’d made their escape from the Isclit ship.

But Yce was not deterred.

She watched him walk further away and the guards’ attention was on him.

Only on him.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

“Diana.” Yce’s voice boomed in her head. “Stay on the uloms. They will protect you.”

But who was going to protect him?

The Mukkians had all disappeared for all she could see.

Diana shook her head, gripping the little sword in her hand.

She couldn’t just sit and watch him be ganged.

The last time that had happened, her heart had shattered into a thousand pieces with a love she hadn’t even fully realized she’d had for him.

But even though her skin itched to jump off the creatures and charge at the nearest guard, she knew he was right. The snake-dragon creatures had already flipped their scales from the dark side to the side that made them transparent. The only visible things were the seats and trunks attached to them. If she laid low between the seats, she was sure she would be relatively safe.

However, that would be no good if Yce and the Mukkians got slaughtered. The gator-guards would only come to investigate the animals. Maybe the snake-dragons would fight back, or maybe they would take off, but who was to say they would protect her. She wasn’t their owner.

Diana bit her lip as she crouched between the seats.

She didn’t like this. She didn’t like it one bit.

It felt cowardly but the fear she felt at seeing the gator-guards jumping from the large ship had shaken her to her core. It reminded her of everything they’d been through so far. It reminded her of her first days on the Isclit ship.

From where she lay, she could see Yce, his blade ready as the first gator-guard charged at him.

The gator-guard was using some kind of rod that had an electrical current but Yce was fighting bravely, skillfully blocking the charged end of the guard’s weapon. As they parried, another guard charged at Yce, and Diana felt her heart rise in her chest.

But Yce spun just in time to dodge the blow that was aimed at his back. Slicing upward, he executed the same move he had taught her, and his blade went straight through the guard’s midsection.

The guard collapsed but there was no time for rejoicing in the small victory as another guard roared, his shock rod aimed at Yce as he charged toward him.

Through the corner of her eyes, she saw movement and Diana realized the Mukkians hadn’t gone to hide. They hadn’t abandoned them.

The little robed men were poking their spears in the dunes.

Smart, she thought. Waking the sleeping zehmips would no doubt cause confusion but that confusion could be used to their advantage. Hopefully the gator-guards weren’t used to the planet so seeing the strange giant plants might affect their game plan.

Before long, the undeniable sound of tree bark stretching echoed beneath the sound of the large ship still hovering above them.

The zehmips were awakening. It seemed they had woken the two zehmips closest to the battle and as soon as the plants began rising, they hurried towards the gator-guards nearest to them.

She could hear some of the gator-guards laugh—a noise that sounded more like a wheeze and a cough than a laugh—as they saw the Mukkians approach.

No doubt they were wondering what damage the little men could do. She was wondering the same.

But as the Mukkians charged forward, they pulled on the center of their little spears and the weapons extended.

They extended?

They extended!

Diana gripped the spear she was holding. With a longer rod, it would no doubt be more helpful.

The Mukkian closest to her launched himself from the sand, jumping meters into the air, and with his spear pointed forward, he aimed for the gator-guard closest to him.

It was such a surprising move, the gator-guard seemed to have the same reaction as she did.

Its yellow eyes widened as it saw the little alien head for it but that little second of surprise was just enough of a delay for the Mukkian’s advantage.

Before it knew what happened, the Mukkian was burying its spear deep into the guard’s chest, dangling from the end of the rod as it shouted in its language at the guard.

The guard collapsed.

If it wasn’t such a serious situation, the scene would have been funny. The little Mukkian roared in triumph.

The other Mukkians were just as effective but her eyes were drawn back to Yce.

He was surrounded by three gator-guards now, the shock rods of their weapons pointed at his chest.

With a roar she’d never heard echo from him before, Yce bared his teeth and readied his blade.

She could feel her heart lodging itself in her throat as she watched him.

“Diana,” his voice boomed in her head.

“Yce.” She wondered if he could sense her distress. It wasn’t easy standing on the sidelines and watching.

“If anything happens. Go back to the outpost. Go alone if you have to.”

“What are you saying?”

“I’m saying…”

He couldn’t finish. One of the guards charged at him and Yce dodged the charge but another came at him at the same time, this time with a blade, slicing at Yce’s chest.

Diana swallowed a scream as she saw the gush of blood.

He’d been hit.

Yce had been hit.

If she didn’t do something, he was going to die.

She saw another guard take the opportunity to charge at him again, but Yce wasn’t going down so easily. Despite the obvious pain of the fresh wound, she watched him spin and land a blow of his own, burying his blade deep into the guard’s chest.

The guard grunted, holding on to the blade, and Yce raised his leg and landed a kick into the guard’s midsection, releasing his blade just in time as another guard charged at him.

It was bad.

There were still so many guards.

So many.

And when she thought it wasn’t going to get any worse, a loud roar echoed across the

desert.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

It was a terrifying sound and she felt herself tremble as she raised her eyes to the hovering ship.

The thing. Was. Huge.

The biggest gator guard she had ever seen in her life.

It was the size of at least two regular-sized guards and it was horrendous.

As it jumped from the ship, she watched as the guards already on the sand raised their weapons and shouted as if victory was definitely now theirs.

This new monster was obviously their trump card and they were using it.

As it landed in the sand, causing a dust cloud in its wake, it surveyed the battle.

Its eyes landed on Yce and it roared again.

Oh no.

Not Yce.

Despite the Mukkians’ help, more guards were hopping from the big ship above them and her hope for a good outcome was dropping fast.

She needed to help. She couldn’t just lay there and hide. They were going to be captured again, or worse yet, killed.

All of them.

But the decision was already made for her as she heard a snarl close to her.

Raising her eyes, her blues locked with round yellows as a gator-guard snarled at her.

“Human.” It was strange for something that looked like it to speak.

Gripping the spear, Diana scrambled backward.

She needed to get off the uloms, now they would hinder instead of protect her.

To defend herself, she needed space.

It was a high jump, but she had no choice. Jumping off the creatures, Diana tumbled to the sand just as the guard launched himself at her.

But as she rolled a few feet away, she knew he wasn’t going to give up so easily.

And as expected, he came after her, hopping off the ulom with ease.

“Give up, human. Your master will take you back if you come nicely.”

What?

If the situation was different, she would laugh.

Take her back? The thought of going back to one of the disgusting Tasqals made her want to retch.

“I have no master,” she said through gritted teeth.

The guard laughed, activating its shock rod and it stalked toward her.

“Diana.” It was Yce and she could hear that he was in pain. A glance in his direction and he was face to face with the giant that had jumped from the ship earlier.

“Run, Diana. Get to safety.”

“No.” Her inner voice communicated the determination now in her eyes.

“Diana. Please.” There was a pause. “I need you…I need you to be okay.”

Diana gulped, her eyes locked with the guard in front of her.

She could run but didn’t he get it? She couldn’t leave him there. If it wasn’t clear before, it was clear now. She needed him alive too.

The guard in front of her charged toward her.

“Please, Diana.” Yce was begging and she felt the distress in his voice. He was fighting bravely but just as when she had been swallowed by the zehmip, he was focusing on her, not himself.

As she dodged the incoming fiend, the guard wheeled around, slamming the butt of its spear into her back.

The wind was knocked out of her as she stumbled forward into the sand, inhaling deeply to numb the pain.

But adrenaline was her friend. Spinning as the guard approached from behind, she managed to block his second blow with the Mukkian’s spear, but it was an awkward move. She wasn’t used to fighting with weapons.

If she wanted a chance at survival, she needed to do things her way.

“Diana!” Yce’s shout echoed in her head just as she saw the giant gator-guard grab him by the neck, lifting him into the air.

“Diana. Safety. Go.”

“I’m not leaving you!”

The electric end of the guards’ shock rod landed deep in the sand close to her head and Diana’s eyes widened. But it was her best opportunity.

Sliding her legs toward the guard’s, she locked her ankles around one of his and twisted, disrupting its balance. The sand was the perfect surface. So loose, the guard’s footing wasn’t sure. Surprise lit up its face as it fell.

That was what she needed.

She couldn’t fight with spears and swords but she could grapple.

Launching herself on top of the guard, she let her years of training take over.

The good thing about knowing jiu-jitsu was that she didn’t need to be as strong as or stronger than her opponent. She could subdue the guard by using her body to her own advantage.

On her back with the guard’s torso between her legs, she restricted his movement by tightening her legs around him.

As expected, the guard raised his arm to punch her in the face to release himself, but that was exactly what she needed him to do.

Grabbing one of his arms, she deflected the punch, causing it to land to the side of her head. Keeping hold of his arm, she pushed herself backward, protecting herself from his punches while maneuvering her legs to clasp them around his neck.

The guard snarled. It couldn’t move. Not in that position.

As Diana completed the takedown, spinning so her hands were free, she tightened her legs, choking the guard with all her strength.

The hate in its yellow eyes didn’t deter her.

But even though she had it in a vulnerable position now, she knew it would take a while before it went unconscious. If they were alone on the battlefield, she could have dealt with that. But now, with so many other threats, she needed to end it and she needed to end it quickly.

Reaching for the spear, Diana stretched one hand toward the weapon as she struggled to hold on to the guard she’d subdued. In her field of vision, she could see another gator-guard charging toward her.

If she could only reach the weapon in time.

She could.

She knew she could.

Just a few more inches.

As her hand closed around the handle of the spear, she gripped it and buried the sharp end in the gator-guard’s neck. The guard struggled for a while but as its body went limp, she felt herself being pulled away from him.

The other guard that had been charging toward her was upon her now and it was gripping her by the throat.

“Pesky humans,” it snarled in her face as it lifted her into the air.

Damn, it was strong, and it was cutting off her breathing, its claws digging into her neck.

Swinging her legs, she managed to wrap them around the fiend for some stability.

The guard snarled, but she wasn’t going to be intimidated.

Spear still in hand, she drove it as hard as she could towards the guard’s chest.

It connected, sinking into the beast’s skin but it didn’t go deep enough.

As the gator-guard roared, it pulled her closer to its face, snarling as it did.

“You think you can kill me?” It laughed in her face.

“I don’t think I can.” Her words came out in strangled gasps as she struggled to speak. “I know I can.”

She could see her death in its eyes. In those yellow pools, there was no feeling, no remorse, nothing. There was coldness in his but determination in hers.

Still holding on to the spear, she pushed into the gator-guard as it brought her closer and it roared again.

Gripping her arm, she felt indescribable pain as it twisted, snapping her bones in two.

Tears welled in her eyes, but she couldn’t scream. She could hardly breathe but she had never been more convinced of anything in her life.

If she was really going to die this time, she was going down fighting.

With her one good hand, she reached across and gripped the spear, ignoring the pain in her throat and her limp arm.

And with the final strength she could muster, she pushed the spear deep.

It found its mark this time and the guard roared louder, its hand relaxing at her neck.

But as it fell, it groped for something at its waist, and did something she didn’t expect.

She had only time to see the metal of a blade glisten before it was buried into her midsection.

The pain wasn’t immediate; it was subdued by her shock. Her eyes widened as it locked with the yellow pits of the guard as it laughed.

As they both fell to the sand, her hand slid to her midsection and she felt the warm fluid soak her fingers.

Blood.

Her blood.

The sudden pain in her head was startling. Like a thousand migraines hitting her at once, her eyes rolled back with the intensity.

“Diana!” Yce’s tormented shout was loud and, as her vision waned, she saw the guards around her holding their heads and roaring in pain.

Her own head was pounding, but it seemed as if they were going mad.

They dropped their weapons, screaming as they fell to the sand, their bodies squirming as if they had lost control of themselves.

“Yce.”

Her vision was blurring and she was suddenly feeling weak, but in the distance, she could see Yce heading toward her, his body bloodied, his face full of pure rage.

As he collapsed over her, gripping her face between his hands, his white gaze glowed with a fire she’d never seen before. Around them, she was mildly aware that all the enemies were suddenly immobile and Yce himself seemed to be completely glowing white—his hair, the tattoos underneath his skin, and his eyes.

Like a hot white fire, he looked like a beacon.

“Diana!” His tortured exclamation rocked through his body as he touched the blade that was buried inside her.

So this was what it felt like when you were really dying.

Gripping his hand, which was growing red from her blood, she directed a weak smile at him.

“Yce.”

It was getting dark. Or maybe it was her eyes.

“No,” she heard him say. “No!” And another pounding echoed in her head.

As she succumbed to the darkness, her eyes lifted to the sky and the last thing she saw was another of the huge black ships approaching.

“Yce,” she whispered. “Save yourself.”

Chapter Thirty

Diana.

Diana was dying.

He felt it even before the gator-guard had buried its blade into her and he’d felt it as the blade went deep.

It was exactly what he hadn’t wanted to happen.

He shouldn’t have brought her with him. She’d have been safer within the confines of the outpost.

There were enough Mukkians there to put up a good fight and she’d have been protected.

And now...now she was dying. She was dying because of him.

The psychic burst that he emitted was so strong he knew he would collapse soon. He’d never emitted anything as strong before. He hadn’t known that he could.

But seeing the guard take Diana down had activated something deep within him that he had locked away for years.

He didn’t care about the enemies around them as he struggled towards Diana.

She was his purpose.

She was all that mattered.

When he’d seen the starship deactivate its cloaking mechanism, he’d known then and there that there would be casualties.

But not Diana.

Not his Diana.

He reached her just as she was losing consciousness and he felt something within him surge again.

He’d had a similar feeling when she’d been swallowed by the zehmip but this time it was different. It was stronger now—it was all-consuming.

Diana. Not Diana.

Cradling her head in his hands, he felt powerless.

There was a med bay in the Elysium. It was his only hope.

He had to save Diana and if he couldn’t...he wasn’t sure he would want to continue living.

What would life matter anymore?

In the little time he’d known her, she’d shown him another side of life that he’d ignored all these years.

There was logic to her madness and he loved it.

He loved...her.

Diana!

His heart was ripping in two and he could feel the neurons underneath his skin pulse and burn.

It was as if he was going to combust.

He could feel his energy wane, but he couldn’t collapse. He needed to get her to the med bay.

She wasn’t responding now. Her eyes were closed, long lashes fanning over her soft skin.

But he had to believe there was more time.

She was a fighter. She would survive this.

She had to!

The universe couldn’t be so cruel as to show him what life, what love, was really like only to take it away.

But his energy was waning and he could hardly prevent himself from collapsing beside her.

He was mildly aware that all the remaining guards around them were unresponsive.

Whatever his psychic burst had done, it had rendered them helpless. Dead.

It was something he had done before as a child, but never on a scale like this. Somehow, he had targeted all his enemies on the battlefield while not inflicting harm on the ones he wished to protect. The last time that had happened was when his pet pioly had fallen into a nest of ghureveks. He’d tried to rescue it but had fallen in himself. He remembered the fear that had gripped him—a fear of losing something he’d loved so much, his pioly, and that fear and anguish had done something he had not understood at the time. He remembered he’d fought bravely, taking down as many of the poisonous ghureveks as he could. But he was only a boy. Even grown men didn’t dare entering a nest with so many of the vicious creatures. And then it had happened. His pioly was caught in the mouth of one of the beasts, its blood staining its white fur as the ghuruvek shook it in its wide jaws. Something had built inside him and exploded. Next, he’d woken up surrounded by his father and brothers. On top of him, his pioly had rested, its head nuzzled against his cheek. Around them, over twenty ghureveks had lain dead.

His father hadn’t spoken about it and he hadn’t questioned it. But whatever it was, however he’d done it, he was thankful for it now.

As the remaining Mukkians headed towards them, something twigged in his mind. Something familiar. Someone familiar.

Crex.

Crex was close.

He could feel him.

He wasn’t sure how, but he could feel his brother.

His brother and another human; the one called Piper.

Raising his head, he saw the starship approaching.

It looked identical to the one that was hovering close by and, for a second, the fire consuming his body flared.

It was the enemy, so why did he sense his brother.

But as the starship landed and the door opened, he saw the rainbow-colored hair of the human female, Piper. And she was not in chains.

Beside her, his brother hopped from the ship and dashed towards them.

Crex.

It was Crex.

“Save Diana.” He sent the message to his brother telepathically.

If anyone could take care of the woman he loved, he knew his brother would do it.

With the last of his strength, he collapsed beside her, cradling her body against his.

* * *

The light was bright. Too bright.

“Yce?” Her whimper was answered by a soft hand gripping hers.

“She’s awake!” The voice that answered was female and the person undoubtedly spoke in English.

Diana raised her eyelids a little as her vision adjusted to the brightness.

She was on some sort of bed—a gurney, it seemed—and there were tubes attached to her chest.

“Yce?” she called again, unable to make sense of her surroundings.

Had it all been a dream?

The abduction. The escape. Yce?

Had Yce been a dream?

Had she just been in a terrible accident somewhere on Earth and imagined it all?

Something within her fell.

No. It couldn’t have been a dream.

She couldn’t have imagined him.

She’d felt him—physically and emotionally felt him.

He was real.

“Yce!” Her voice rose and she tried to sit up.

“He’s here,” the woman said and Diana realized she recognized the voice.

“Piper?” She tried to focus on the woman’s face but her vision was still blurry.

“Yes, it’s me, Diana. I’m here. You’re going to be all right.”

A figure loomed in the doorway and Diana tensed.

“It’s okay; it’s only Crex,” she heard Piper say.

Crex.

She remembered him.

She was with Piper and Crex? But how?

Maybe she was dreaming.

Struggling to sit up, a pain shot through her side and she brought her left arm to the area.

It was bandaged and she realized she was unable to move her other arm.

Her vision was clearer now and she could see that she was inside some kind of hospital room...well, it wasn’t exactly that. Something told her she was on a ship.

“Where am I?”

“You’re on a ship. You’re safe.”

“Yce?”

Piper moved to the side and Diana could see behind her.

On another gurney laid the big blue alien. Her big blue alien. He was strapped down, restrained, and his eyes were closed.

“What’s wrong with him?!” She tried to rise but it was difficult.

“We had to restrain him. He was going fucking mad.” Piper rested a hand over her forehead, before brushing back her hair. “He did some psychic shit that led us to you guys and while doing that he also took out all the gator-guards around you. It was carnage. I’m fucking sure he pretty much killed every undesirable within meters of where you were.”

Diana gulped.

She could see Piper clearer now and the woman was smiling at her.

Behind Piper, Crex moved into the room, his frame looming over the small woman as he rested his hands on Piper’s shoulders.

They looked so comfortable together, there was no denying that there was something else there.

“But why did you restrain him?” Diana asked, her eyes flashing back to Yce.

She didn’t like seeing him so unresponsive.

“He was emitting bursts of psychic pain and refused to leave your side, even though he needed medical attention himself. You’ve never seen him like that have you?” She directed her question at Crex and Diana saw the alien’s cold eyes move from her to Piper’s face, where his gaze noticeably softened.

“No,” he replied. “Yce has always been...logical. Always…composed.” He said the word as if Yce’s actions confused him but when he looked back at Diana, there was a look of understanding in his eyes.

“He found his Piper,” Crex said and Piper smiled, resting her head back against his chest.

“We’ll lessen his meds. That should wake him up soon, right?” She raised an eyebrow at Crex who nodded. “You just rest till then,” she said to Diana.

As Diana nodded, Piper smiled at her again, squeezing her hand softly.

“You have no idea how happy we are to see you guys,” the rainbow-haired woman whispered before glancing at Crex, who had been adjusting the meds attached to Yce.

Piper flashed her another smile before taking Crex by the hand and exiting the room, leaving her alone with an unconscious Yce.

Chapter Thirty-One

She lay there for probably thirty minutes just staring at him.

The last time she’d seen him, her eyes had been closing on their own despite her trying to keep them open and he’d been cradling her head between his hands.

Looking at him now, she felt relief wash over her.

By some twist of fate, they were both alive.

As she rested back against the gurney, eyes still on Yce, she saw him twitch and shortly after the twitch there was a pain in her head.

“Diana.” His voice was in her head along with the pain. It was like a continuous groan of torment with her name floating underneath it.

He was waking up.

“Yce?” she called to him.

“Diana.” The pain in her head increased and she struggled to sit up.

“Yce, you’re going to kill me. Wake up!”

He must have heard her because his eyes fluttered open and found hers immediately. As he looked at her looking back at him, the pain in her head subsided.

“You’re alive,” he finally said.

“As are you.” She found there was a soft smile at the corner of her mouth as the relief washed through her once more.

“I’m sorry.” The words left his mouth as he struggled to rise from his position.

There were bandages all across his chest as well and she could see he was in pain as he hobbled over to her gurney. It seemed Crex had removed the restraints when he’d lessened the meds, knowing Yce would have wanted to get up.

Resting his palm on her forehead, his fingertips brushed against her hair softly.

“Sorry for what?”

“It is my fault you are in pain.”

Ah. She understood now.

“No.” She touched the hand on her forehead and noticed his gaze focused on where her hand was touching his. He wouldn’t meet her gaze. “I was in a lot more pain before I met you.”

She tried to lighten the mood by smiling but it didn’t seem to have an effect on his mood.

“Yce,” she murmured, raising her palm to his cheek.

When he finally met her gaze, there was pain in his white gaze.

“You regret it now, don’t you?” He was looking at her as if he was searching her gaze for an answer and she didn’t know what to say.

Regret what? Staying with him on the Elysium and eventually falling so hard for him she was now wondering why she hadn’t seen it coming from a mile away?

“Can’t you read my mind?”

“I don’t trust myself.”

Even to her, it was strange to hear him so...vulnerable.

Then it hit her that it was because he was vulnerable. In this moment, there was no armor. It was all stripped and he was bare. He was vulnerable and that vulnerability was because of her.

“Yce, if I had the chance to do this all over again...I’d still have gone out there with you.”

The pain didn’t leave his eyes.

“You could have gotten killed.”

“You could have gotten killed too.”

He shrugged as if that didn’t matter.

“You don’t get it, do you?”

When he didn’t reply, she continued. “All my life I’ve been fighting for me. It’s always been me against the world. Alone. I’ve been fighting alone. And then...then I met you. And you,” she chuckled as if she could hardly believe it herself, “you...the last person in the universe I would have thought of to be there beside me...you started fighting for me. You cared.”

There was silence between them for a few minutes and it was only when his thumb brushed away the tear that ran down her cheek that she realized her eyes had watered.

“I don’t have to do this alone anymore,” she finally whispered.

“Does that mean you will stay...with me?” he asked as if the question had been on his mind for a while and it was one that he wasn’t sure he wanted to hear the answer of.

“I don’t want to be anywhere else.”

The smile that broke her lips was genuine. It felt good to say it out loud.

There was nothing waiting for her back on Earth. There, her existence didn’t really matter. But here, with Yce, she could be part of something bigger than herself. She could fight for her freedom and for the freedom of others. Her life would mean something and she wouldn’t just be fighting the demons of her past.

She didn’t have to fight like that anymore.

“And you don’t hate me anymore?” he asked and when she looked at him she saw that his features had softened somewhat.

“Oh, I don’t know about that.” She giggled as he bent his head to hers.

As his lips touched hers, she sighed against him.

“I’m here with you now, Yce. And you are here with me.”

* * *

When they finally managed to exit the med bay, they found Piper cradled in Crex’s lap in the cockpit.

Diana cleared her throat as they entered, feeling somewhat as if they were interrupting them.

The meds were working wonders. It was as if she could feel her body healing, her cells mending her from within. Still, she was leaning most of her weight on Yce, because she could hardly walk.

“How are you feeling?” Piper pulled her attention from the alien she was sitting on to raise her eyebrows at them as they entered the room.

“Like shit.” Diana smiled.

Crex’s eyes were on her and Yce and a knowing look passed over his gaze.

“This is a Tasqal ship,” she heard Yce utter.

“Yes, brother. Piper commandeered it. Now it is ours.”

“Piper?” It was Diana’s turn to raise an eyebrow.

Piper shrugged. “A lot has happened since we jumped ship.”

“Where is the Elysium?” Yce directed his attention to Crex, who leaned back in the pilot’s seat.

“It is at the Muk outpost. We sent a message to the Restitution. A cargo ship will collect it and hold it for repairs.”

She could feel some tension leave Yce’s body and knew he was relieved. She’d realized the ship was important to him from that day he had refused to abandon it and she’d stayed behind with him.

Who would have thought that one decision would have led her here now?

“So what’s the plan?” Diana asked as Yce helped her over to one of the pilots’ seats. Thinking he was going to let her sit, she let out a surprised yelp as he lifted her into his arms and sat, placing her in his lap.

She could feel Crex and Piper’s gaze and her cheeks warmed.

Well, they were going to find out sooner or later for sure.

“We look for the others. Now with Yce here, we can track them down more easily.”

“That’s if they haven’t dug themselves into holes in the sand trying to get away from his tormented psychic groans of distress.” Piper chuckled.

Yce’s eyes glowed white but there was no hostility in his gaze.

“They tell me you blasted everyone around us.” Diana touched his cheek.

“I did,” he said it so matter-of-factly, it brought a smile to her face.

To the point, Mr. Logical. Except, what he had done wasn’t logical and the thought that it was all because of her warmed her somewhat inside.

“I can sense Xul and Kyro,” Yce said, directing his gaze at Crex. “But I can’t sense Kyris.”

The room fell silent for a moment. The only sound being a constant beep somewhere in the control room.

“Who was Kyris with again?” Piper asked. “It was so confusing when we had to abandon ship. I don’t remember.”

“He was with Song.” Diana played back the events in her memory. She was sure of it. Kyris had taken off with Song.

The room fell silent again. So much so that Piper’s whisper echoed in the space.

“Do you think they are dead?”

No one answered.

“No,” Yce finally said. “I cannot sense him but I am sure of it. He and your human, Song, will be alive…somewhere.”

Diana sighed.

She hoped he was right. And, although it was all based on his belief in his brother, she found comfort in his words.

She wanted everyone to come out of this alive.

“There’ll be a big fight soon,” Crex said, pulling Piper closer. “We will need you to do what you did to kill all those Hedgeruds again, brother.”

“Big fight?” Diana frowned, looking from him to Yce.

“The Tasqals are angered. They will not rest until we are all dead.” Crex’s eyes suddenly went cold.

“And that’s why we’re going to kill them first,” Piper cut in.

“You will be fighting with the Restitution?” Diana raised an eyebrow at Piper. She hadn’t imagined the woman as a fighter but she guessed that in the circumstances, they’d all grown tougher, faced their demons, and were better for it.

“If he’s going, so am I.” She watched as Piper’s gaze settled on Crex and there was no denying the tension between them. There was definitely something there. Something strong.

Something like what she was feeling for Yce.

Glancing at Yce, she settled back against him.

She felt the same.

If he was going to fight, so was she.

She felt him stiffen against her and realized she must have projected the thought.

“I have to,” she whispered and she watched as the gem in his forehead swirled with yellow and purple.

She knew exactly what he was battling inside.

After what just happened to them, she was sure the thought of her in another battle was the exact opposite of what he wanted.

“My Diana,” Yce murmured and paused. “I cannot stop you. Can I?”

A soft smile graced her face.

He knew what her answer to that was.

“Promise me one thing,” he continued. “If you must fight, promise me it will always be by my side.”

To spend eternity fighting alongside the man she loved?

The decision was easy.

She’d already spent an eternity fighting on her own, and she hadn’t liked it.

“Of course,” she said, resting a palm against his cheek. “Always.”

As she raised her lips to his and sealed her promise with a kiss, it hit her with clarity that this was a new chapter in her life.

A new life among the stars, with a future worth fighting for.

The End

Next in the Series

KYRIS

Book 4 in the Captured by Aliens series

This is the story of Song and Kyris’ journey across Muk and towards each other!

Join the mailing list for updates on its release!

Acknowledgments

Thanks to my husband.

I always have to thank you because you deserve all the gratitude for making my writing possible. Without your help, I wouldn’t be able to do it.

You mean the world to me.

Love,

A. G.

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About the Author

A. G. Wilde is an avid reader, a gamer, a lover of all things space, alien, and sci-fi.

She is addicted to intense romantic adventures, irresistible heroes, and deliciously naughty things.

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