Cosmic Sex (14 page)

Lara waved her hand, and the window panel silently opened. Nerak was there in front of them. It sparkled beneath the bright sunlight. Aero units whizzed past.

Sam jumped back, then took a tentative step forward. “This isn’t real.” Sam looked between them. “I mean, it can’t be. Aliens don’t really exist.” His laugh held no humor.

“My planet is as genuine as your planet.”

He shook his head. “Nope, I’m not joining in on your fantasy. I’d like to meet the actress who plays your sister, though. Now, she’s a beauty. And you did a damn good job with the special effects. Those craft were pretty cool looking.”

Kia had hoped the hologram might convince Sam. She didn’t want him thinking his friend was crazy... or her. She walked to the box and closed the lid, saying a silent good-bye to her sister before replacing the box in her satchel.

“She is from another planet,” Nick said.

Kia’s heart swelled with pride that he would take her side. But then, she had given him more proof. Maybe that’s what she had to do. Give Sam more proof that she was from another world. She pulled her phazer out and pointed it at Sam. The red beam landed in the center of his chest.

She pushed the button.

Chapter 16

Nick stopped mid-sentence. One second he’d been talking to his partner and the next... poof! No more Sam. His gaze swung to every corner of the room. Still no Sam.

Nah, she didn’t just... just... Nick opened his mouth, then snapped it closed. His stomach knotted. This wasn’t good. Not good at all. He turned and stared at Kia.

Oh, Lord, she had her phazer in her hand, looking calm as could be as if she hadn’t just eliminated his best friend. He swallowed past the lump in his throat. Ah, man, he was going to be sick. No, he couldn’t be sick. He had to find Sam.

Then he could puke his guts out.

“Where’s... uh... Sam?”

Her eyebrows drew together. “I don’t know the exact location.”

She didn’t know? He drew in a deep, shuddering breath. This was great. What if Sam got stuck... wherever the hell he was?

“Don’t worry, he’ll return.”

“Are you sure?”

“Pretty sure.”

“But not positive.”

“Who can really say for certain what will happen from one minute to the next?”

And if he didn’t return—then what? How would he explain Sam’s disappearance? “Hey, Captain, you might want to find me another partner. It seems this girl I picked up the other night in a biker bar—yeah, that would be the same one who screwed up the bust. See, it’s like this, she’s really an alien from the planet Nerak, and she zapped Sam with her phazer and now he’s pffft.”

Nick didn’t even want to think about how he’d explain everything to Sam’s mom and dad or his older brother...

Ah, crap, Sam’s older brother was going to beat the living hell out of him. The guy was six-five and all muscle. He’d thumped a guy once and sent him staggering across the room. One little thump, that’s all it took.

Yeah, he was dead meat.

“Nick, are you feeling okay? You’re sweating.” Kia’s forehead was puckered with worry.

“Am I feeling okay? No, I’m not. You zapped my best friend. His brother is going to pulverize me, and my parents are going to be out the expense of my funeral because I didn’t plan ahead.”

Her face lost some of its color.

Damn, he didn’t mean to scare her or anything, but he wanted to get the point across that she couldn’t go around zapping people—especially people he liked. Now what the hell was he supposed to do?

He scraped his fingers through his hair and tried to stay calm. He didn’t like seeing Kia this upset. It wasn’t as if she knew any better. Maybe he’d laid into her a little hard. Not good.

He moved from the sofa and went to her, taking her into his arms. “Hey, it’ll be okay.”

She shook her head, not saying a word. He hadn’t thought he could feel any worse. Wrong!

“Let’s sit down.” He led her to the sofa, nudging her down onto the cushions. “I’m sure Sam’s brother won’t beat me up too badly... ”

She looked up at him with unshed tears shimmering in her eyes. “You know your parents?”

He frowned. That’s what had her looking as if she was about to cry? The fact that he knew his parents? She wasn’t worried he’d be pounded to a pulp by Sam’s brother?

His ego rapidly deflated.

So maybe if she saw him being beat to a pulp, then she would be worried. She probably didn’t understand what he’d meant.

“You weren’t created in a laboratory?” she asked.

He forgot about what Sam’s brother was going to do to him when he realized she was serious. Had Kia really thought he’d been born in a laboratory?

The thought of kids being born in a lab was a little weird. A whole race? More than a little weird. “You’re joking, right?”

She shook her head.

It made sense—sort of. Why would he even think babies would be born naturally, since these Elders had gotten rid of men so they could create the perfect world? Of course they’d get rid of childbirth pain, too. Not that he could blame them.

“On Earth, women have babies naturally.”

“Naturally?” She blinked her tears away, confusion mixed with a little skeptism now furrowed her brow. “They’re not delivered to the home?”

“Are you sure Sam will return?”

She nodded.

What choice did he have but to hope for the best?

“I think I have a health book around here somewhere.” He looked in a couple of cabinets and one drawer before he found the book with a pile of other books that had been stacked against one wall. “This should explain everything about reproduction.” He scanned the index, then flipped through the pages until he came to the section on the stages of pregnancy, and handed her the book.

She glanced through the pages. Her face went from a healthy color to a very unhealthy pallor.

She looked up, a sickly expression on her face. “The woman’s stomach will get this big without bursting?”

“Well, yeah, the skin stretches.”

She swallowed hard and turned the page, then dropped the book and took a step back. “The child emerges from between the female’s legs!”

Damn, he’d never thought about the process of birth before now. To someone who hadn’t taken health classes, had never known a child could be born another way, he guessed it would seem pretty bizarre. Kind of like cruel and unusual punishment.

“Women have babies every day.” Now that sounded like the biggest copout he’d ever uttered.

“They aren’t torn apart?”

“They stretch there, too.”

Her eyes narrowed. “It sounds like a lot of stretching.”

Kia didn’t look one bit convinced, and he didn’t really blame her. He didn’t even like talking about it. His sister had told him he was a big wuss when it came to a pregnant woman. Okay, he was, so what.

She retrieved the book and turned a few more pages, becoming transfixed with the pictures of babies, skimming her fingers over the infants.

Now he knew he didn’t like the look on her face. He wasn’t daddy material, and he didn’t want any child of his raised on a planet that didn’t care a whole hell of a lot for men.

“Would you like some dinner?” Anything to get her mind off pregnancy and babies.

She closed the book. “Food? How can you think about food at a time like this?”

Uh-oh. “A time like what?” he hedged.

“Babies. The fact that you actually know your parents.”

“You have sisters.”

Her bottom lip trembled. Ah, no, not the trembling bottom lip. He was a sucker for the trembling lip.

“It’s not the same thing.” She sniffed.

He pulled her across his lap and tucked her head beneath his chin. Funny how she fit so damn perfectly. Some tough warrior she was now.

“I’m sorry you didn’t have parents.” He frowned. “Didn’t you have a mother? I know you mentioned a grandmother.”

Her head moved in the direction he thought might be a yes.

“Some DNAs are linked stronger than others. Within those ties are created a form of bonding, but I don’t think it’s as strong as when a woman carries a child inside her.”

“I bet you love Lara just as much as I love my sister.” He brushed her hair behind her ear in a gentle caress.

She was silent for a few seconds. “You’re right, of course.”

“How about that food?”

She sucked in a ragged breath. “Food is good.”

He breathed a silent sigh of relief as she scooted off his lap and stood.

“I showed weakness.” She squared her shoulders. “I apologize. I’m feeling strange new emotions that I find hard to control.”

“You don’t have to be strong all the time. Besides, it’s probably just hormones. You’re only like millions of other females.”

She cocked an eyebrow. “I’m not like millions of other women. I am a warrior, and we have better control.”

And the Kia he’d first met returned. He wanted to tell her it was okay to cry, but he had a feeling she wouldn’t appreciate his suggestion.

As they started toward the kitchen, there was a popping sound. Nick stopped in his tracks, immediately recognizing the noise.

Sam appeared looking none the worse for wear, except he was naked. He looked around the room as if he’d just awakened from a long sleep.

“What happened?”

Nick didn’t think Sam was going to like his explanation. “She zapped you with her phazer.”

He slowly shook his head. “I don’t buy it. I blanked out for a second. That’s all.”

Kia’s gaze moved downward. “They’re not all the same. Amazing.”

Nick wasn’t sure he liked the idea of Kia comparing him to Sam. Not that he thought he wouldn’t measure up.

“There must be something different in the components of your clothing and that of Nerak’s,” Kia said. “I can’t understand why the clothes don’t return.”

Sam looked down. “What the fu... ” He grabbed a pillow off the sofa and placed it in front of him. “Where the hell are my clothes?”

“Who knows,” Nick told him. “Somewhere in the wide-open universe?”

There was another pop and Sam’s wallet and cell phone dropped out of the blue and landed at his feet.

“You don’t look so good, buddy,” Nick said. “Maybe you should sit for a minute. Get your equilibrium back.”

“Is there a reason he holds the pillow in front of him? Is this a custom?”

“He’s naked,” Nick explained.

“And this is a bad thing? He has no reason to be ashamed. He’s built very well. Any woman would be proud to have him between her legs.”

Now he knew he didn’t like the turn this conversation was taking. Sam wasn’t hung that well. Not that Nick had really looked. Guys just didn’t do things like that.

“Maybe you could search in the cabinets for something you’d like to eat. Just read the back of the boxes and it’ll tell you what’s inside.” Anything to keep her busy until he could find Sam something to wear.

She nodded and went into the kitchen. That should keep her occupied for a while.

“Is she always like this?” Sam whispered, still looking as if he was trying to digest everything that had happened.

“Yeah, pretty much.”

“Where are my clothes?”

“I haven’t the slightest idea.” There was something he wanted to know. “Where the hell were you?”

Sam shook his head. “I don’t know. I feel different, though.”

“What do you mean?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know. Sort of like I was asleep, but awake. Suspended animation or something. I know, it sounds crazy... ”

Nick raised an eyebrow.

“Or maybe it doesn’t.” He drew in a deep breath. “She’s an alien.”

“I know.”

“I found chocolate,” Kia called out.

“That’s not healthy.”

“What’s healthy?”

“Protein... vegetables.”

“They don’t sound as good as chocolate.”

Sam cleared his throat. “You think I could borrow some clothes? It’s damned chilly in here.”

“Sorry.”

Kia was distracting him again.

“Just keep looking,” he called over his shoulder.

Sam did a sideways shuffle as he followed Nick across the room and down the hall into his bedroom. If the situation weren’t so serious, he might laugh.

That and the fact Sam would probably get really pissed. He might seem laid-back, but make him mad and you’d better hope you could outrun him.

Nick grabbed a pair of jeans and a T-shirt that he didn’t think he’d worn and tossed them toward Sam, then a pair of briefs. He looked at Sam’s feet.

“Your feet are bigger but I think I have a pair of flip-flops that’ll work.”

He dug around the bottom of his closet and found one. The other was hiding under his bed, along with a favorite shirt. He’d wondered where it had disappeared. When he straightened, Sam was already dressed.

“She really is an alien?”

Disbelief showed on Sam’s face. The poor guy still had a problem accepting the truth.

“Yeah, she is. It took me a while to believe her, but then I’ve always been more open minded than you when it comes to this kind of stuff.”

“It changes everything I’ve ever believed in. That’s hard to swallow all at once. It might take some getting used to.”

“Kind of feel like you’re in a sci-fi movie, don’t you?”

“Yeah, and I’m the only one without a script.” He cleared his throat, his gaze darting around the room. “She doesn’t have, like, a third eye or anything, does she? Maybe a tiny head hidden by her hair?”

“Don’t be ridiculous.” Nick wasn’t about to tell Sam that he’d already checked.

Sam’s face turned beet red. “Yeah, I guess that’s a little crazy.”

“Just accept her and the rest will come with time.” He started toward the door but stopped at the last minute. “You heard anything from the IA investigation?”

“Nothing. But if they release you to go back to work, what are you going to do with Kia?”

His stomach rumbled, and it wasn’t because he was hungry. He quickly dismissed the feeling before he could wonder about it too much. “We’ll find her cousin and they’ll go back to Nerak.”