Craving: A SciFi Alien Mail Order Bride Romance (TerraMates Book 8) (41 page)

Tell them you're light bonded, that you're one of them, I pleaded with myself. Then they can't hurt you.

I remained silent. The torture might hurt, but it was better than life as a slave to Captain Fore.

Kist turned around, a pair of pliers in his bony hands. "Leave," he instructed the soldier who'd brought me here. "You know I like to work alone."

"Gladly," the soldier mumbled. "It's torture to watch." He laughed as he left, finding amusement in his joke.

I did not see the humor.

Kist moved slowly towards me, taking his time. As soon as he knew the soldier was gone, he set the pliers in the palm of my hand. "Scream," he ordered.

"I won't play your sick game," I protested, unable to take my eyes off the pliers.

"It's no game," he said. "If you want your freedom, scream."

He wasn't speaking from a place of insanity. He was quite serious, almost pleading. So I obliged. I thought of every beating Captain Fore had given me on the Fortuna, and I screamed. It felt good, if not for my current circumstance.

Kist shook his head. "Damn, girl. That was good."

To say I was confused was an understatement. "What are you doing?" I whispered, realizing the soldier was more than he seemed.

"I'm saving you," he replied.

My trust didn't come that cheap. I was suspicious. "Why? I can't offer you anything."

He didn't answer me directly. "Who are you?" he asked, returning to his table. "We do not dress our claimed in our uniforms. Not down here. You are someone special."

"I am no one," I told him. "I am of no interest."

"You are of great interest," he said, picking up a crowbar then setting it back down. "Tell me who you are, and I will set you free."

It must be a trick. There was no other explanation for Kist's odd behavior. "I am a human woman. I am a person with a soul. That alone entitles me to my freedom."

"In an ideal reality, yes," Kist said, "but this is not an ideal reality."

"Then what kind of reality is it?" I asked, turning the interrogation on him.

He sighed and sat on a tire near me. "It's the type of reality where a granddaughter who loves her grandfather and her grandmother very much must one day learn that her grandfather is a heathen, and her grandmother is a slave. She discovers her purpose in life is to grow healthy and bear children. She is treated like glass, unable to swim in the sea or climb the trees. As an adult, she must choose a mate before she is twenty-five. Otherwise, one will be selected for her. She runs away, altering her appearance look like a boy. She tells the military recruits that the disease disfigured her while she was in the womb, when, in fact, her only disfigurement is being a woman."

"You're a girl?" I hissed under my breath, unsure of how to react. I felt compassion for her, but I was even more confused than before. I could not understand her decision to join the military and force upon other women what she had experienced herself. "How can you do this to us?"

"I came here to rescue them," she declared, keeping her voice low. "I am the destiny of Earth if this war is lost."

I repeated her story in my mind, and it struck me. The grandmother she spoke of was of the Earth colony that the Surtu attacked sixty years before. Kist was not fully Surtu. She was part human.

It was hard to tell. She had the same elfin eyes as the rest of the Surtu, and the same flecks of light around her pupils.

"You're not here to fight?" I confirmed.

"I can't fight. My size won't allow it. That's why they put me on mechanical detail with the fatsos and the lazies. But if I were on the frontlines, I'd protect the women the fleets are seeking. That's what I came here for."

I wanted to trust her, but it was difficult. Torture came in many forms, and so did great actors. "Why did you tell me your story?" I asked.

"Because like me, you are more than what you seem."

"What makes you say that?"

She stood, remembering the role she was meant to play. "Scream again."

I did, but it wasn't half the performance I put on earlier. "Who do you think I am?"

"You tell me."

My situation was desperate. I needed someone to trust. "Lift up your shirt," I demanded.

"I'm not that kind of girl, but thanks."

I rolled my eyes. "Show me that you truly are who you say you are."

Understanding, she lifted up her shirt. A nude cloth was wrapped in layers across her chest, binding her breasts.

I relaxed. "Good thing the Surtu uniforms are thick."

She nodded but didn't speak, waiting for me to say more.

It took me a moment to form the words. I knew once they were out, I wouldn't be able to take them back. My efforts to hide the glider far from the northern base would be lost. "I am Terra Lynch," I confessed. "I am light bonded to Jidden, of the Surtu."

I didn't know what she expected to hear, but that wasn't it. Her eyes went wide with awe. "I knew Jidden and his mate had rescued an entire space station full of women, but I thought you were dead."

There seemed to be a pattern forming. I did not realize everyone knew about our escape from the Fortuna. "Have you heard anything about my sister warriors?"

Kist glanced past the graveyard of vehicles, making sure no one was near to overhear. Then she came to me and pressed her lips close to my ear, working the ties around my hands as she spoke. "Earth is lost. The Surtu will win. It is inevitable. I belong to a network of Surtu who are helping humans to flee to a secret location – men, women, and children."

The news was hard to take. "Is it that bad?" I asked.

"It is," she said gravely, pulling away the last of the ties. "While it is still night, I will take you back to the woods. I'll tell the others you died during torture, so I buried you. Find your way to the waterfall. I'll have a messenger meet you there. It may take a few days. Whatever you do, don't get caught again."

I flexed my wrists, allowing the blood to return. "Can't you tell me more?"

"No. It's not safe," Kist said adamantly. "The messenger will tell you more."

I was uncomfortable with the secrecy. Everything was out of my control. But I had no choice. I went with her on her hover bike back into the woods, glad to be as far from the Surtu camp as possible.

"Thank you, Kist," I said when I jumped off. "I hope we meet again, victorious in our cause."

"It's Kista, actually," she admitted. "I changed it to Kist when I entered the military."

"Thank you, Kista," I corrected.

With a nod, she was gone, leaving me in the wilderness once again.

* * *

T
he waterfall was beautiful
, especially in the daylight, but it was cold and isolating. I'd spent too many hours alone since watching the escape from the Fortuna. I wanted to find my friends, more than anything. I hoped that the messenger coming to help me would finally give me the news I longed to hear – that their ship had landed somewhere safe.

For days, I waited by the waterfall, watching the waters tumble like tears of the Earth crying for its loss. I almost gave up, believing no one would come, but I forced myself to stay.

He came one night while I was sleeping, shaking me gently awake. When I saw him, I thought I was still dreaming. Had the moonlight cast a spell? Was I projecting my heart outward.

It was Jidden.

Realizing I was awake, and he was beside me, I threw my arms around my alien lover, holding him tighter than I'd ever held him before, as he did to me. For the first time since Gallia's death, I cried, overwhelmed with my love for him and the sense of safety he brought.

"I missed you," he murmured, smoothing back my hair as I sobbed. "My life is empty without you. I love you, Terra. I love you more than I can say."

I didn't reply in words. I kissed him, my need for him great. My journey back to him had too many bruises and too many fears. Right now, all I wanted to feel was the bliss of his touch. I took off my Surtu uniform, resisting the urge to throw it over the waterfall. I helped him remove his clothing, sliding my hands up his hard abs and down the muscles of his arms, taking him in as if it were my first time with a man.

My sex was wet and ready to feel him inside me. Like a woman starved for too long, I pulled him onto the ground and wrapped my legs around his firm, naked body. He put his hand behind my back, lifting my hips up slightly, and then he entered me, his cock warm and thick inside me. Moving slowly, he began to gyrate, cherishing the joy of our lovemaking, in no hurry to let me go.

Every lingering thrust sent a jolt of ecstasy through me, making my body tingle with electricity. Jidden continued to take his time, sliding his cock in and out of me, savoring me. His lingering was deliberate. He was building my fire, touching me from the inside as his cock massaged my pink flesh.

"I love your smell," he whispered into my ear, his breath hot and delicious across my neck, arousing me even more.

I began to moan, panting with every thrust, feeling a charge crackle across my body that sent shock waves of pleasure through me. I didn't want him to stop. I wanted to feel his cock inside me like this forever.

Finally, my body could take it no more, and he unleashed a fire within me. I grabbed his hair and screamed out his name as he pushed further into me, giving me an extra charge of pleasure. I felt as if I had once again transformed into light, but I hadn't. I was blissfully aware of every sensation running across my flesh.

His cock remained hard inside of me. I had come, but he had yet to. Hearing me scream his name set him off, and he began to drive harder into me, growing inside of me, causing my blood to flow back and making me ache for more. I grabbed his backside and rocked my hips, pushing him deeper into me, uniting our bodies as one.

My hands moved down his backside and over the base of his cock, which was sticky with our love. He continued to thrust as I massaged his cock, and the fire returned, shaking my body with an agonizing rapture. Euphoric, I came again, this time with Jidden. He plunged into me one final time, his cock expanding, and then he released his love, spilling into me.

Our bodies hot despite the chill of the waterfall beside us. Jidden fell beside me, holding me in his arms, refusing to let go. I hoped he would never let me go again.

* * *

J
IDDEN

I had finally found her – my light bonded. Being apart from her all of these months had been agony. I knew she lived. The connection we shared had told me so. I also knew she was suffering. She wouldn't admit it, but her time as a slave to Captain Fore and his men had wounded her. Only revenge could heal this wound.

There was no time for vengeance right now. Earth was losing the war against my people. Soon, nowhere would be safe. The only option we had left was to break away from the war and rebuild in a secret refuge far from Earth. I had searched a long time to find Terra, not knowing if she was still on the Fortuna or made it to Earth.

Now I knew. I only had regret in my heart. I could have gotten to her so much sooner. I owed the network a lot. It had saved Terra and brought her back into my arms.

There was also no time for regret. We had to get to the rescue ship before it left. They timed departures accurately. It was the only way the network could ensure the safe passage of those we rescued. We ran. I held her hand as we raced across the grassy plains. I wouldn't let go again.

A sudden blast caught our attention. Ahead of us, a Surtu craft landed beside a boarding school for young women. For the Surtu, it was like hitting the jackpot. The blast had been a warning shot, scaring the girls out from their hiding spot in the cellar of the school. We watched as they emerged from the cellar doors with their hands raised high.

Three men exited the craft, their blasters out. They wouldn't shoot, but the girls didn't know that. They trembled in their long nightdresses, dropping their arms to hold each other.

Terra stopped and looked at the girls, her face twisting in anger.

"We don't have time," I told her, trying to pull her away. "We can't save everyone."